Secrets
by Kakashihasnicearms
Summary: From the start, they were best friends. Over time, their bond grew into love. That bond is shattered when he left and chaos ensues. How long until she seeks him out? What will be different about these two lovers and will they still want to be together? Or will all the male figures around her, making her stronger and colder break her until she can't love anyone? What will Sasuke do?
1. Anniversary

I laid on my bed and glared into the darkness where the ceiling was. I couldn't sleep. I figured I couldn't because the Uchiha Massacre's memories were coming back. Tonight was its anniversary after all. I frowned and pulled myself to a sitting position and I could feel the cold wood under my feet. Itachi's, brother's, words came back, replaying again. It seemed sleep was a lost cause so I stood and went to the bathroom to wash my face.

In the moonlight I could see the outline of my eyes against my skin. I stared back. He didn't seem to want to give up. I shivered from the air cooling my face down and dried my face.

I pumped chakra through my body to warm myself and in the process I sensed that someone whose chakra I couldn't recognize was on my balcony. I turned and ran over, throwing the door open. I looked around and climbed the ceiling so see if they disappeared there. In any case, they were good and fast. It hadn't been more than two seconds and they were nowhere near my apartment. I rested my arms on the railing of the balcony and stared at the Hokage monument. They stared off into the distance, somewhere.

I'd been standing there for two hours, thinking about Itachi. I'd gone over every detail for the millionth time again, trying to understand what the real reason Itachi could have to kill everyone in my clan. I furrowed my brows as I decided to venture on another topic I had not considered until now: Itachi had seemed to have an air of lightness one day before _it_ happened. He seemed to be happy, almost. I considered this further. I thought harder and remembered something else: his shirt he'd worn the day before smelled of sweet flowers, very faintly, when I had helped my mother carry the laundry.

Why would Itachi have something sweet smelling on his clothes? Oh, maybe it was the things girls like to put on, like those annoying ones at the Academy, perfume. My eyes widened. _No...no way could he have a girlfriend...he'd said that all the girls were only in love with his status and the status he'd be able to give them if he married them. Somewhat like my predicament._ Another memory came, one I'd forgotten. The same day, I'd checked Itachi's pockets to make sure nothing would turn into lint in the washing machine or be ruined, and a small sheet of paper was in it. I stashed it in my pocket and continued with my chore. Once I was done, I went to my room and looked at it. It was a receipt...for infant's clothing and a blanket. I tried to put the pieces together. First, he'd acted happy, then he smelled like a girl, then had a receipt for infant's accessories. Then it hit me. He had a girlfriend and had a child with her and tried to have a normal life and buying such items for an expectant couple.

I smirked, knowing Itachi's secret. I doubted he knew I knew. Still, I wanted to know who this woman was. She was probably a Konoha kunoichi. If she wasn't, she could've been a merchant's daughter or a kunoichi from another village.

I started to laugh as I realized how messed up my life was. I am going to have to tell Naruko this tomorrow. I'm sure she'd have something to say on the matter.

A/N: Yes, Naruto is going to be a girl. So, AU fic. Who could this girl be? See ya next time!


	2. Jinchuuriki

"What?" Naruko turned to me sharply. I nodded.

"So you think that woman is still alive?" Naruko crossed her arms and swung her feet and took out her homework that had already been graded, but had every single question wrong and tried to make sense of it by staring at it in frustration.

"I would think so. _He_ would've picked someone capable of protecting themselves," I grabbed her paper and held it away from her as she angrily tried to get it back. I pushed her hard enough that she fell on the grass of the training ground as I read it and I pulled out a pencil and started to correct it.

"I'm going to ask the question you have probably been asking yourself: nephew or niece?" she began to climb back up the tree. I threw a shuriken at her to make her stop. I cut off some of her hair and she glared at me.

"I'm going with nephew," I jumped down from the tree and handed it back to her.

"Oh? Why's that? You don't want to have to deal with a whiny half-Uchiha girl when you kill her father?" She crossed her arms after she'd balled up the paper and stuffed it in her pocket. I gave her the glare I give to those idiot fangirls and punched her.

"Heh. Point taken. I guess you aren't afraid to hurt a girl," she smirked as she retaliated with a punch aimed for my face.

I sidestepped and quickly got behind her with a kunai at her throat. I held her wrists behind her and she started to thrash.

"Naruko, you suck. I thought I'd told you to get better at taijutsu. If this were a real battle, you'd be dead once the enemy had their kunai out. Here's a clue: what to do to trick your enemy and save youself?"

"Teme, how the hell should I know?!" she glared at me out of the corner of her eye as she struggled to turn her head.

"You use the-"

"Hahahahahaha! Look! It's Naruko getting her ass served to her by Sasuke-kun!" a fangirl had appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey! That's _my_ Sasuke-kun! How dare such a monster as her get close to Sasuke-kun! Ino, let's get her and teach her a lesson!" a girl with pink hair yelled out. _Sakura._

Suddenly, they all came running towards us. I knocked Naruko out, mainly because she'd disagree with me running away and try to fight them and us fighting them wouldn't help either, grabbed her and went at top speed on branches to the village to a place in which they couldn't find me.

I heard their voices quickly disappear and I glanced back just to see if they were gone. In that instant, I slammed right into someone. The impact made me drop Naruko and I managed to stick the landing.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

The man, who hadn't been knocked off, jumped down and seemed to consider answering me or not. I began to get even more angry.

"Who are you?!"

"Hn. Why should I answer that? I should be asking you why you're with the Kyuubi brat. Oh, whoops, you're not supposed to know that. If I were you, Uchiha, I'd stay away from her," the man shook his head. He didn't seem to be all that sorry about knocking into me. _Wait...Kyuubi?_

The man started to walk back to the village.

"Wait. What do you mean, 'Kyuubi brat'?" I narrowed my eyes.

The man turned his head with a smirk and gave me a sideways glance.

"You're an Uchiha. Why not swindle the librarian into telling you?"

"Why? You seem like you want me to know. What's your problem?"

"Problem? It's that girl," he gestured to Naruko. I began to think fast of about why no one had talked of why they hated her and now he was telling me so easily. I understood why people hated her; everyone knew of the Kyuubi attack. Now I understood that. It was so simple I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. Still, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that this shinobi was seemingly breaking some code and going right out and telling me.

Then I had it summarized in my head: Naruko had the Kyuubi sealed in her and that's why everyone called her a monster. People hated the Kyuubi and believed she was the Kyuubi because it was sealed in her. The Hokage must've had some law that prevented people of her generation to know, probably to let her have friends and not be a depressed killing psychopath. Still, that didn't stop the hate. I sighed, at least she had me as her friend.

I looked back at the man, who was about to walk away. He smirked and started to walk away. I shook my head and turned to Naruko, whose eyes opened slowly as I picked her up and began to walk towards the village. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her staring at me and I swore her face had the slightest shade of pink. I felt my face get warm and I turned my chin up and away from her and threw her on the ground.

"Hey! What was that for?!" she brushed herself off as she yelled at me.

"Hn," I kept walking and refused to look at her.

"Teme! Are you listening?! I asked you a question!"

"Hn."

"TEME!"

"Shut up. Let's go."

She glared at me but followed.

* * *

I stopped at the library. _Should she know? She may not handle it well and lash out at me for being the one who knew and told her; it'll look like I knew all along and wanted her to suffer from a broken friendship. On the other hand, she may not and wish to know her burden._

"Naruko. Do you know why the people of this village hate you?" I gave her a level look.

"Um...no. What do you mean?" she suddenly had a suspicious look.

"What do you mean, huh? We'll see. Come on," I gestured and walked into the library. _I suppose she'd want to know. It is _her_ burden, after all._

We walked over to the librarian, who immediately had the same reaction to me as the fangirls. I sighed. _Why are almost all the girls of this village crazy? _

I smirked and leaned against the desk with my forearm on it and looked her in the eye.

"Librarian-san, I need information on the Kyuubi for an extra credit project from Sensei. Will you help me out? But don't tell the Hokage. I might get into trouble. You might, too. Please~" I gave her my most pleading face. She looked away and bit her lip.  
She sighed after a few seconds.

"Fine, but you can't take anything home," she got up and began to lead the way.

"Ne...Sasuke. Are you saying you know why the people of this village hate me? And why did we come here to look at books on the Kyuubi?" Naruko looked at me in a way that I hoped she couldn't read my mind. But her eyes were so intense...and sad.

"Hn." I knew that wasn't the answer I should've given, but my real answer would practically deface my reputation of being stoic and cold.

"Oi, teme!" Naruko got in front of me and grabbed the front of my shirt. I was genuinely shocked. I didn't think that she'd react so violently with my answer. I widened my eyes, in hopes of making it seem like I was even more surprised than I was and then she would let me go, seeing that I didn't know why she was doing this.

"N-naruko..." I said.

"Hey, Uchiha. This is it. I have to be going now," the librarian gestured to some books that had been locked and stowed in a small secret door in the bookcase.

"Thanks," I said and shook Naruko off me. "Now...what do we have here..." I whispered to myself as I picked up two books titled 'Tailed Beasts' and 'Uchiha Dōjutsu Effects on Tailed Beasts'. I also picked up one that was titled 'The Worst Night in Konoha's History'.

I began to read the latter of the three. '_...there have been three Jinchuuriki to Konoha's Kyuubi. The first being Uzumaki Mito (see page 56), the second being Uzumaki Kushina (see page 58), and the third being...'_  
My mouth opened slightly and I inhaled sharply as I saw Naruko's name written there. My eyes widened as the world became silent. I felt a hand shake me. I turned and I saw my friend yell out my name and say something like _'...ingan! Sasuke! Shar...!'_

**A/N ...yeah...I think the whole deprived of sleep thing made the ending that way. Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	3. Itachi and Kama

"Naruko?" I asked, my head pain subsiding.

"I THOUGHT YOU HAD A SHARINGAN!" she yelled.

"Hey! We're in a library, idiot!" I glared. "I would've sensed it if I had gotten my Sharingan. I think you're hallucinating. Maybe you need to stop eating ramen everyday. You'll die if you eat something as unhealthy as that every day."

"Shut up, teme! Ramen is _life_!" she glared at me. I stood and flipped to read about the former jinchuurikis. _Uzumaki Mito, wife of the Shodai Hokage…_I flipped after skimming the page about her to Uzumaki Kushina. _Uzumaki Kushina, wife of the Yondaime Hokage and mother of two children, Namikaze Kama (page 60) and the third Jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Naruko._ I smirked at reading this. Naruko was really oblivious at what a rich family she would've been born to, if she had known. I decided that later tonight I would come to a conclusion of why the Hokage had ordered her to not know. It certainly wouldn't have been a collective effort; some ninjas must've wanted to have her know. I shook my head, needing to read up on this. I flipped to page 60. _Namikaze Kama, a Konohagakure no Sato nuke-nin. S-Rank J__ōnin level kunoichi. Whereabouts currently unknown. Defected from Konoha ranks on the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre and is a suspect in aiding the attack. Aged 16 years. _The page looked like one in a Bingo Book, with a photo and information. The photo showed her with short red hair and piercing blue eyes and whiskers on her face.

"Naruko…" I started.

"What?"

"You have a sister," I turned to see her reaction. She was shocked and then had a look of sadness.

"What else does it say?"

I hesitated.

"Well?" she looked me straight in the eyes.

I sighed. "Come here and read it yourself, but don't yell." She looked at me skeptically and then snatched the book. She skimmed it and then had a look of something akin to horror, then surprise, then…nothing. After a moment, I took the book back and had her read the part about the Kyuubi and jinchuurikis. She still had a face of nothing. I was slightly worried, but reassured myself that Naruko was strong and was just shocked. Still, I was worried.

"Then why…" she asked quietly.

"I was wondering the same thing: why would your sister would leave you without even caring for you?" I sighed. "Also, I was wondering why she'd leave on the night of the Uchiha Massacre…" saying that left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Let's go home Sasuke…tomorrow we have our team assignments," she said, almost whispering. She handed the book back to me and walked towards the front of the library. I hastily put the book back and ran after her.

"Naruko! Wait," I caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder.

"I lied," she turned to me.

"What?" I narrowed my eyes.

"I knew why the village hated me. I didn't want you to know, though," she looked down at her feet.

I stayed silent.

She suddenly grabbed the front of my shirt again.

"And I want _no one_ to know, ne?" she smiled. I pushed her away harshly and I looked away. Her face was so close to mine and she was _smiling_… I gritted my teeth and nodded. My face felt warm and I walked past her. She followed.

I arched a brow when she turned a corner and walked away without saying a word. Plus, it was in the direct opposite direction of Ichiraku's. I knew from her talking incessantly about it that she went to Ichiraku's as much as she could. It was early, but I supposed that she would want to sort things in her mind.

"Naruko, wait! I'll walk you home—" I had tried to stop myself from saying that but it was too late. She turned and looked at me.

"No, you don't have to. Go home," Naruko dismissed me. I felt myself getting angry.

"No, I'm going to walk you home. You look pale," I said.

"You look paler than usual."

"Shut up, dobe," I stuffed my hands in my pockets and walked her home.

Halfway to her apartment, she decided to talk to me about what we'd read earlier.

"Ne…Sasuke. Why would my sister leave me? I didn't even know…"

"It only makes it more suspicious that she left the same day Itachi left. Then there's the problem of my nephew," I narrowed my eyes. Her eyes widened, as if she'd realized something. She opened her mouth but it didn't look like she breathed in. She suddenly collapsed.

"Naruko!"

I quickly grabbed her and carried her to the hospital. I ran as fast as I could and when I got there, she was immediately taken to a bed and was examined. I sat in a chair, mulling everything over. _Why would Kama leave on _that_ night? She'd left on the same night as Itachi…does that mean she left with him? Then there's Naruko's heritage and the Kyuubi and her collapsing. Why would the Yondaime seal the Kyuubi in his daughter? And why did she collapse?_ I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. I looked out a window and saw it was getting late. I debated leaving. Then I saw Ino and Sakura arguing. My debate was settled: I am so leaving. I quietly got up and silently but quickly, left. I saw one of them move and I knew I was screwed. I was barely a couple feet from my seat. I was immediately glomped by Ino. A nerve popped out and I gritted my teeth.

"Ino, get off me!" I said harshly and shoved her off.

"Oh, _Sasuke-kun!_" she squealed.

"Ne, what brings you to the hospital?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing of your concern," I frowned. Ino smirked and walked over to the receptionist and asked something. The nurse nodded and flipped through some papers and nodded again. Ino thanked her and walked back.

"It looks like you're either here for _me_ or some lowlife. Is it Naruko?" Ino smirked.

"Heh? _Naruko_?! She is so annoying! Maybe it's because she had such an irregular childhood. Oh yeah, you know how she doesn't have any parents? She's always doing such selfish things. If I did any of those things, by parents would scold me. If you're alone, your parents won't get mad at you. Maybe that's why she's so selfish," Sakura rambled on. I narrowed my eyes. _How ignorant…_

"Solitude…" I glared at her. "You can't even compare it to the level of where your parents get mad at you."

"What?"

"You're annoying," I stated and turned to sit back down. I heard then start bickering over me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw and old man with a look of pity towards me. I gave him a cold sideways glance and he immediately looked back at his newspaper.

"Sakura you're such an idiot! This is why Sasuke-kun will fall for _me!_" Ino said.

"What do you mean? He just talked to me more than you!"

"Quality over quantity, Sakura. The amount of what he said doesn't compare to the fact that he just told you he thinks you're annoying. Face it, he's _mine,_" Ino said proudly.

Suddenly I heard a scream. _Naruko!_ I got up and ran in the direction of the scream. I guessed it was the door that I saw a blur of a person, I suppose a nurse, rush in. I took my chances and raced in.

"Naruko!" I saw Naruko being held down by five people, two were doctors and three nurses.

"Sasuke help me! They're trying to kill me!" I took one look at her face and I saw that her face was very flushed. _Fever. And a nasty one at that_. I saw that none of them had ice. _She must be hallucinating. But I can see they're holding needles with something inside. Sedative maybe?_ I walked up to her and smirked.

"Naruko, calm down. You're hallucinating and sick. They're trying to help you. If they were really trying to kill you I'd have killed them. See?" I gestured to the now shocked nurses and doctors.

"But…Sasuke…teme…" I could see her slowly falling into being unconscious. When I was talking to her one of the doctors had injected her without her noticing. She finally stopped thrashing and a nurse wiped her forehead and turned to me.

"You're Uchiha Sasuke, right? You're pretty good at calming her down…are you and her…" she smiled at me. I opened my mouth to object to something as stupid as that but I felt my face get warm.

"Oh Sasuke-san, I was just kidding!" she laughed lightly and walked away. I scowled at her back and walked back to my apartment.

When I walked in, I sensed the same chakra outside my window. I raced to the window and threw it open, not bothering to take off my shoes.

"Who are you?!" I yelled. A figure was leaning against my balcony railing.

"Me?" I determined the figure as a woman from her voice.

"That isn't important. What is important is…Na…naru…" she struggled to say a name.

"Naruko?"

"Yeah."

"Answer my question! What do you want with her? She's sick! And I'm not in a good mood. So answer me!"

She laughed. "He did say you were a bit impatient."

"Who?!"

"Come on, you should at least know that one. Or did the Hokage erase your memories? If he did, then he's going to come back and make that night replay again and again so you never forget," she smiled.

"That night…" I began thinking. My eyes widened. "You mean the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre? You know my brother?!"

"Yep."

"Then who are you?!"

"I was watching you and Na…her, and I saw you two reading some very sensitive material. I think you already know the answer to your question. But answer mine and I will allow you two questions and I won't lie. Do you remember the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre? And, why are you so interested in everything revolving around the Kyuubi and the Yondaime?"

"Yes. I'm interested in it because Naruko is my friend and she shouldn't have to suffer. But here's my first question: Why did you let her suffer? Why did you leave on the same night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre? You could've cared for Naruko back then! She was all alone and you did nothing!"

"Silence! You, ignorant boy, knows nothing of what I did for her! However, to answer your question, I left with your Uchiha Itachi. I had to," she glared at me.

"Namikaze Kama, right?" I smirked. She stiffened slightly at the name.

"And why the _hell_ are you interested in me? You shouldn't even know I exist!" she seethed.

"Isn't it obvious? You left with the man I want to _kill._ Anything regarding him, any weaknesses, like a friend…or perhaps something more than that, to use against him are my tools to defeat him and restore my clan," I said.

"You better not use _her_ to help defeat Itachi. Or to restore your clan. If you do, I will raise hell so that Itachi won't even have to lift a finger to kill you. I'll have to kill you and…h-h-_her_," she said. "But, if I find out that she dies by your hands or by your fault, I will personally find you and kill you," she smiled brightly.

"You're crazy! Why the hell would I need her to help me to achieve my revenge? She is just a friend! She understands solitude better than any of the fangirls! That is why she is my friend. We understand solitude," I said.

"Solitude?" she narrowed her eyes.

"She is alone," I stated. "And you know about me. Everyone in the Five Nations knows what happened to my clan."

"No…she isn't. That isn't possible. I sealed those memories in her! What the _hell_ happened to my sister?!" she clamped her hands over her mouth, seemingly having said too much.

"So I was right. You are her sister. You are Namikaze Kama, the S-Rank Jōnin nuke-nin kunoichi of Konoha. You are the one Itachi left. But why him? He's just a murderer," I smirked. She glared at me but before she could say anything, another figure appeared with eyes that glowed blood red.

"Kama…you've let your emotions get the better of you. Why was that?" the man asked.

"Itachi…" I began to seethe.


	4. Meeting Again

"ITACHI!" I began to run at him, but he dodged and quickly moved out of the way behind me and kicked my back. I slammed into the railing, my stomach throbbing. I turned and drew a kunai but Itachi grabbed my arm and threw me against the door, causing the glass to shatter. I fell through the doorframe and Itachi kicked me hard on my side and I slid, slamming my arm on the bottom edge of my bed that was suspended by half a foot or so off the ground. I felt my arm start to bleed and I threw the kunai at him, desperate. He dodged it and was suddenly above me.

"You're weak," he stated.

"Shut up! I will kill you!" I yelled and drew another kunai, ready to stab him. He held my arm down before I could even get it out of the holster.

"You will never defeat me and will never have the Mangekyo Sharingan," he said. He grabbed the kunai I held with my finger and stabbed my shoulder. I gritted my teeth but I yelped when he decided to take the kunai out and stab my bone. Suddenly, I felt my eyes change. _Sharingan?!_ It was interrupted as I felt the sickening feeling of it shattering and I began to scream. Itachi got up and began to walk to the now broken door. My vision began to get hazy but a shot of adrenaline sharpened my vision when Naruko burst through the door.

"Sasuke-teme! Why the hell did you leave?! I—" Naruko stopped midsentence in her rant when she saw Itachi and Kama.

"Y-you're…" Naruko stared at Itachi and Kama, her eyes moving from one to the other with wide shining blue eyes in the early moonlight. Finally, her eyes settled on me.

"Sasuke!" she ran over. I felt the adrenaline rushing away faster than it had come and I felt my body relax and my eyes closed.

"N-naruko…" I muttered before I fell into the deep soothing darkness.

**Naruko's POV**

"Sasuke! Sasuke-teme!" Naruko shook Sasuke's body for a moment. Itachi and Kama watched with slight pity.

_How stupid. Can she not sense Sasuke's chakra still present? Can she not see that he's not dead? _Kama thought. Itachi turned to face her, but Kama stepped forward. Itachi nodded, seeing how she wanted to see how sharp Naruko's skills were.

"You're Uzumaki Naruko, right?" Kama asked with indifference.

Naruko didn't answer. She shook while Sasuke lay in her arms. _How the hell can she not feel his pulse with him in her arms?! _Kama tightened her grip on a kunai she was holding.

"Hey! I'm talking to the orange one!" Kama said sternly. "I'll ask again. You're Uzumaki Naruko, right?"

"…I'll kill you. I will never forgive you. I'll _kill you!_" Naruko yelled. She set Sasuke down and screamed as chakra she recognized as not her normal chakra began to surface, scalding her chakra system. Her tongue was pricked my sharp teeth and nails made small holes in the wooden floor. Her vision became reddish and hazy, focusing only on Kama. Naruko drew a kunai and disappeared. She reappeared behind Kama, almost landing a blow but Kama moved quickly enough to barely dodge her as she tried to stab Kama. Kama's kunai quickly embedded itself in Naruko's back. Naruko barely felt it as it ripped through her flesh. She reached back and yanked it out and returned it by throwing it with so much force the air around it whistled. Kama caught the handle it as it cut an inch off of her bright red hair. She began to make hand seals.

"Sealing Technique: Chakra Suppresion!" Kama disappeared then reappeared in front of Naruko and quickly pressed her hand to Naruko's stomach and twisted her hand to the right. Naruko's eyes widened. Naruko had watched in slow motion as the woman reached out with cold eyes. Naruko slipped her hand in her kunai holster and readied herself to stab the woman. When her hand came into contact with her jacket, she felt her jacket come open across the zipper and she felt the bottom part of her undershirt rip and her stomach, for a split second came into contact with the cool air. Then, Kama's hand wielding her jutsu touched her stomach. Naruko's hand moved forward. Kama noted the kunai coming towards her. She inwardly sighed. She thought she knew Naruko's movements. She hadn't predicted that Naruko would try again with the kunai. For a moment, she entertained the thought of: Does this kid know any jutsu? She focused herself to complete the jutsu. When her hand came into contact with Naruko's warm skin, she felt Naruko's muscles tense as the jutsu went into effect. Naruko's eyes widened, showing bright blue orbs. Kama's memories resurfaced and she frowned slightly. She twisted her hand and noticed the kunai had come closer. Only a second more and the kunai would stab right underneath her collarbone. She added more chakra and twisted her hand a little more until she felt both uncomfortable from the motion in her wrist and unforgiving warmth spread in her chest. The kunai had started to cut into her body. As the moments ticked by, the kunai went deeper and deeper, causing more warmth and suddenly, pain, to spread. Naruko smirked but her eyes showed another emotion as Kama pulled her hand away, having completed the jutsu: a mixture of hate, pain, and fatigue from the sudden loss of the new chakra. Her eyelids wavered and Naruko felt her body hit solid ground. She glared at the two. She looked at the red haired woman…no, almost woman, but still teen, and then looked at the one with the red glowing eyes. _So that's Uchiha Itachi, huh? _She looked into his eyes and she was suddenly unconscious.

Kama took out a small sheet of paper and wrote something and put it in Naruko's pants pocket. She turned back to Itachi.

"Let's go. I'm sick of this place again," Kama clicked her tongue. Itachi closed his eyes and opened them, revealing midnight black eyes. He nodded. They jumped off of Sasuke's balcony and went towards the soon approaching full moon. They left the village unnoticed, again.

After three hours, I opened my eyes and bolted up. I yelped in pain as my shoulder screamed out in pain. I looked at it. I sighed in bitter relief: at least it wasn't bleeding anymore. I noticed a color that stood out on my dark wood floors: orange. My eyes followed and saw red marring parts of the orange clothing.

"Naruko!" I swayed a bit as I stood, but managed to walk over. I gratefully dropped to my knees; my legs were about to give out anyway. I shook her and then saw the kunai embedded in her back. No, there were two. I tried to remember the events. Flashes of a red haired woman and Itachi came. I remembered talking to the woman and then briefly fighting Itachi. I scowled. I pulled out the kunai and noticed the seal on her stomach. It faded away, like the way the flavor of tea does once it slips over your tongue. I lifted her up and carried her to the hospital. My shoulder started to hurt again and I knew that it had reopened. I cursed Itachi and walked out of my ruined apartment. I thought back to if I had gotten my Sharingan. I stopped at a shop with a clean window. I focused and tried to activate my Sharingan. I opened my eyes and I smirked. I had.

The nurse's eyes widened, as she looked my body and Naruko's up and down and saw our wounds. I had decided to test how long I could keep my Sharingan active while having relatively severe wounds, like in a battle. The nurse called for another nurse to help and Naruko was taken to be treated. The first nurse walked me over to a bed. Surprisingly, it was right next to Naruko's bed. Then a doctor walked in and pulled the curtains around Naruko's bed shut in a swift motion. I had the window bed and looked out as another doctor walked in and smiled at me. I turned to look at him coldly with my Sharingan.

"Hello, Uchiha Sasuke-kun. What did you two did to get such severe wounds?" he kept smiling as he helped me pull off my shirt so it wouldn't get more ruined as he examined and cleaned my wound.

"None of your business," I said, looking him in the eye.

"You should at least report it to the Hokage," he said. I winced as the doctor put some disinfectant on my shoulder. I sighed in relief as he dabbed it a bit and began to wrap bandages. Then I gritted my teeth as the bandages began to touch and apply pressure on my wound. He finished up wrapping my shoulder. He started some medical ninjutsu on my terrible bruise on my stomach.

"Why should I report it?" I asked, challenging him.

"You should because of the horrible injuries and that new Sharingan of yours," he replied smoothly. The bruise began to fade and after a few minutes he stopped, saying it was healed. He wiped some sweat from his brow and smiled as he stood.

"So you'll report it to the Hokage? Or should I?" he was still smiling. Kami, it pissed me off.

"Hn," I looked and saw the slowly rising sun. Its bright rays were about to break past the horizon. I heard the doctor walk away. My ears adjusted and I heard the doctor for Naruko talking to the nurses and to bring this and do this. I tuned into their conversation, having nothing better to do.

"…what do you think happened?" a nurse asked.

"I don't know. Maybe the seal…" a nurse trailed on.

"Shh! We're not supposed to talk about that!"

"Sorry…but anyway, if it isn't that, do you think she got attacked?"

"Maybe she was sparring and it got out of hand. She did have Uchiha-san with her."

"Oh, earlier, I was teasing him about if her and him were…you know."

"Tomoko-san!" the nurse scolded lightly. Then she laughed a little. "They would make a cute couple. I don't think she's a fangirl."

"Fangirl?"

"You know, those two girls, Ino and Sakura. I overheard them talking and all they talk about, well, argue is Sasuke-kun this and that and who's going to be on his team and who's going to marry him and all that."

"I bet there's more of those girls, huh?"

"Of course!"

"Actually, I heard my little sister talking about him now that I think about it. I had asked her about her Academy, now that she's graduating and her team assignments are…later today."

"What time is it anyway?"

"Real early. I doubt those two were sparring though. Maybe they were both attacked."

"Maybe…"

"Anyway, my little sister said she had a crush on this Sasuke person and when I asked why that name rung a bell, she said, 'The Uchiha!' and then she talked about how her chances are low because she sits far from him in the class but she'll keep trying with surprise on her side. She believed that he didn't know anything about her and then she'd ask for a pencil before class started and start from there."

"I hope she's on his team…What's her name?"

"Izumi."

I sighed. I certainly didn't know her. Nor did I care. I tuned out of their stupid conversation. I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep; memories of what had happened would come back. I turned on my side, away from them. The sun was still fighting to reach over the horizon. Slowly but surely it was winning. But night still had the skies in its grip. I noticed that the window was open. I heard the nurses wrap Naruko in bandages and then leave. I waited for a minute, grabbed my shirt, got up, and jumped out the window. I ran home to get a couple books to read and a new shirt.

I decided that because of my shirtless state, the fangirls would jump me even before I could activate my Sharingan. I jumped across roofs as fast as I could, giving almost all my chakra to my feet, not letting my Sharingan fade; the fangirls could be anywhere. _Still, it's only 4am…they're probably still asleep. I hope._ I sighed in relief as I went into my room through my balcony. I noticed someone leaning against the wall next to my bed. The way they had their head, I couldn't see their face. When I jumped down from the railing, they heard my footsteps and looked up.

"Hey there." The man said. He didn't look at me, he just stepped forward letting the weakening moonlight illuminate his front: silver hair, a bright orange book, and relatively pale skin. His uncovered black eye flitted up to look at me.

"Mind telling me what happened?" his tone made it seem like it wasn't really a question. I scowled.

"None of your business," I walked in and opened my drawers to grab a shirt and tried to get it on, but I cringed in pain as my shoulder wouldn't allow it. I threw my blood-soaked one in my clothesbasket. I tried to get the shirt on again, but my shoulder refused to agree with my actions. I felt the man's chakra behind me and his hands guided the shirt on. I sighed and turned around.

"What do you want?" I demanded, giving him a sideways look.

"What happened?" he crossed his arms. "You're not the only one who saw them." I presumed he knew who came.

"It's none of your business! You know who came anyway." I walked past him and grabbed some books.

"I'd like to know what they did then. Who else was with you?" he narrowed his eye. I smirked. It seemed he didn't know that Naruko had been here.

"You'll find out soon enough," another voice said. I turned around and saw the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama," the silver-haired man knelt. "Who else was with Uchiha Sasuke?" The Hokage smoked his pipe before answering.

"Uzumaki Naruko," he said. "Right, Sasuke-kun?" he looked at me. I frowned and walked out my door and headed back to the hospital.


	5. Not so flat-chested

"Sasuke-kun, I have good news for you," the doctor smiled. Again. I swear, if he doesn't stop I will have to turn to more drastic measures than just scowling and glaring at him.

"What?" I glared more.

"You are to be released in two weeks!" he said cheerfully. He raised his hands in a merry gesture. I glared more.

"Hn." I turned back to my book. I was on the last chapter of the book. This was the last book of the three I'd brought with me. I glanced at Naruko as the doctor walked out. She was still out. I couldn't understand why. As much as I don't want to, I have to admit that she heals quite quickly. Quicker than I would. Or maybe any shinobi. The team assignments had been two days ago. Neither my sensei nor my teammates had come. I felt a little better but I knew my arm was still broken. I put my book down and looked up at the ceiling. I let my eyes gain a glazed appearance and cleared my mind. I let nothing painful or cheerful enter my mind. I laid there, trying to enjoy the peace as I sensed multiple chakra sources closing in on the door that separated me from the doctors and nurses. I heard arguing and cringed. That could only mean two things: all of the teams from my class came or fangirls were coming. Either way, it was still bad. I knew the door was locked but that would stop no one if they wanted to see me or Naruko. I heard banging on the door and I smirked, knowing that they wanted to be let in. No way in hell was I letting them. I would try to leave, but the window had seals on it that would alert someone of my leaving. In my broken state, they would easily have the upper hand. I saw hands and faces trying to get a glimpse inside the room as they tried to open the door forcefully. Suddenly, the noise stopped and I heard faint talking. Then the door was unlocked by a nurse with a key and she opened the door to reveal the two people I did not want to see for the rest of my life and others I was fine with seeing. Some adults followed. One I recognized. I narrowed my eyes and activated my Sharingan to warn all of them I did not want visitors, even from some friendly people. Those people included: Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akamichi Chouji, Hyuuga Hinata, the silver-haired man, another man, and a woman. They started talking and some said something to me but I didn't really hear them. The ceiling was suddenly interesting again.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun! Are you okay? What happened? Did that Naruko hurt you?" Ino and Sakura's sentences intertwined. They glared at each other. Kiba was saying something stupid and arrogant and Shino was telling him why he shouldn't be arrogant and something about bugs. Shikamaru and Chouji were standing looking like they got roped into this visit. Hinata was standing in the back, looking nervous.

"Alright everyone, be quiet. Kakashi wants to announce something," the other Jōnin man said. My classmates shushed. I closed my eyes.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi and the teams from your graduating class have not been announced due to Naruko and Sasuke's sudden hospital stay. So—"

"Why is Sasuke-kun in the hospital?" Sakura yelled out.

"Now, Team 7 is Uzumaki Naruko, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke, led by me," Kakashi eye-smiled. Sakura pouted at not getting to hear why I was in the hospital but boasted at Ino because she was on my team. I wanted to kill myself right then and there but Kakashi probably would've stopped me.

"Team 8 is led by me, Yuhi Kurenai. My students are Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata," the woman said.

"I'm Sarutobi Asuma. My students are Team 10, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chouji," the other man said.

"Team 8 is to…" I stopped listening as it didn't apply to me. I knew my sensei wouldn't do anything until Naruko and I got out of the hospital. The Asuma guy addressed his team as well and they all left except for Sakura and Kakashi.

"So, this is my team. Three interesting shinobi. Two of which are injured even before I have introductions," Kakashi sighed.

"So you're my sensei," I looked at him.

"Yep! Now, after this I'd like to have a word with you once you get out of the hospital," Kakashi replied. "Sakura, you're dismissed." Sakura was so happy at her love interest being on her team she nodded and left.

"Actually, since Naruko's out, I can just chat with you now. Since I'm your sensei, I want to know you a bit better. With that, I have a question." _Here we go,_ I thought. "What happened two nights ago?" he looked at me seriously. I glared at him with my single tomoe.

"Same thing as I told you before. None of your business," I said with more finality and anger than I had that night.

"Then I'm going to ask Naruko. She'd give me more information than you. Would you like for me to know more than you'd like or will I have to use more drastic measures to know?" he knew he had me cornered. I sighed in submission.

"Itachi and another person, came to my apartment and we exchanged blows. In the process I got my Sharingan. I passed out as Naruko came and then I don't know what happened. When I woke up, I found her cut up and she had some markings on her stomach; her shirt and jacket were open showing her stomach. She also had two kunai embedded in her back. I took those out though," I said. "Kakashi-sensei, what are those black markings on her stomach?" I decided to play stupid.

"I am about to tell you a village secret. It is a decree from the Hokage to protect her," he glanced at Naruko to see if she was still asleep. "I want you to tell no one," he leaned to whisper in my ear and paused to probably sense if anyone was around to eavesdrop. "Uzumaki Naruko is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

"What?!" I looked at surprised as I could. He nodded.

"Well, I have something to do now, so when you get out I have something for the three of you to do. Ja ne," Kakashi eye-smiled and disappeared in smoke.

Naruko sat up with a distant and depressed look on her face.

"So…it's true…" Naruko whispered.

"Looks like it," I agreed.

"Wait, is that your _Sharingan?!"_ she asked.

"Yeah," I smirked.

Suddenly, she was she taking off her hospital shirt and ripping off her bandages. Unfortunately, she didn't say it sooner and I felt my face turn red but for some reason I couldn't look away. It wasn't like I wanted to see her chest! She just did that before I could anticipate what she would do and then she went ahead and took off her shirt.

"_Naruko_!" I hissed. She turned to me, her face probably redder than me.

"Sa…sa…sasuke…" she stuttered. She suddenly scowled and threw her bandages at me. She quickly slipped on her shirt and put her hands on her legs and stared at them.

"Sorry…Naruko…" I looked away. I knew my face was redder than my Sharingan.

"No, it's my fault. I was too impatient to take off my bandages…"

"At least you're not as flat as stupid Sakura," I smirked.

"W-wha-what's that supposed to mean?!" she whispered. "I-I-I…"

I smirked. I now knew how to make her flustered.

"I'm saying you're not as flat as Sakura," I stated. I sensed that Sakura or her chakra was anywhere near to hear that.

Her eyes locked with mine and her mouth was agape and her face flushed even more. She was silent. I had no idea of what was going through her mind.

**Naruko POV**

Naruko heard a voice in her head. It was a woman's and a man's. She knew this couldn't be good.


	6. Hatred

**A/N: Whoops. I meant 'nowhere' in the context of Sakura never heard what Sasuke said. And, Sasuke isn't a girl, Naruko is. Everything is the same as the original by Kishimoto except for one OC in addition.**

**Sorry for the confusion! Review or PM me if you have questions.**

I laid on my bed, in boredom. Naruko had already been released. My arm barely hurt anymore but the doctor warned that it should be allowed to fully heal. Of course, he kept smiling. I hate to admit it, but I've gotten used to his stupid actions of smiling so much. I think if a crazy patient stabbed him, he'd smile and say, "Oh, that wasn't very nice. I'll forgive you if you apologize."

I turned over and glanced at my stack of books. I'd read them all at least twice. Next to that was a glass vase with a flower, always changed everyday. I honestly wish they kept the door locked. The fangirls practically smothered me in useless gifts and words I don't even want to think about because they were so useless. I hated them, all of those fangirls. I thanked Kami my best friend wasn't a fangirl. And that she wasn't weak like them. _And that she isn't flat—_ Wait! What the hell?! No way did I just think that! NO!

I stretched my arm and checked to see if it hurt. I didn't even feel it. I felt my shoulder to see if applying pressure hurt. Nope. _Looks like I get to leave now._ I grabbed my books and jumped out the open window. I walked home.

"Sasuke-kun! You aren't to be released until at least a week! You need to get back to the hospital!" a girl said, running up to me. I swear, when one of them appears, another one does, then it keeps going until there's a mob of them. I needed to hurry or I'd have to use force to get home, and they weren't worth my energy to spend on.

"Hn." I ditched the idea of walking on the streets and jumped across rooftops. I got home and noticed that my floors were shinier and the glass in the door had been replaced. I narrowed my eyes. It was either the Hokage or the fangirls raiding my apartment. I hoped it was the former.

I set my books down and stripped. I started a shower and stepped in before the water warmed up. The icy cold water was refreshing even though it wasn't summer yet. I finished quickly and noticed a familiar chakra nearby. I wrapped the towel around my waist and stepped out of the bathroom.

"Naruko?" I frowned. "Why're you here? And how did you get in?"

She smiled weakly. "Let's train. It's obvious we need to get stronger. Your door was unlocked. And, I need to talk to you about something…"

"Yeah. Now get out. I need to get dressed," I stated. She nodded and turned around. Well, that was meeting me halfway. I readied a kunai in case she decided to peek. I got dressed as fast as I could and put the extra kunai in my holster.

"Let's go, Naruko," I said. She followed as we went to the training grounds.

I panted hard and flopped on my back, letting the cool grass cool me down. Naruko was the same. We'd left the grounds full of holes and some things charred and dented with kunai and shuriken.

I sat up and caught my breath. "What is it?" She was laying next to me and sat up to produce a small sheet of paper.

"This," she held up a photo. I took it and inspected it. I saw my parents with Itachi and a red-haired woman with the Yondaime and Kama standing in front of them, just like Itachi. Both women's bellies were swollen with unborn children. My mother and Naruko's mother had their arms reaching behind the other's neck and hands resting on their shoulders, like good friends, and were in mid-laugh. The Yondaime was smiling and had his hand on Kama's head and Kama was smiling at Itachi. Itachi had a blank look that stared into the camera and my father scowled at the Yondaime with his arms crossed. It had the date written on the back and a message written in ink. But it had smudged and made it illegible.

I sighed and looked at her.

"Yeah, I tried to figure out what it might've said but I guess it didn't dry for long enough when it slipped in my pocket. The ink stains are really bad in that pocket," she laughed a little.

"Why would they take a photo together? My dad didn't really like Hokages," I remembered the arguments over Hokages and Uchihas they had accidently said when I wasn't asleep. Then again, my parents argued about everything. My dad won rarely and my mother acted like she lost. My dad was a really sore loser…

"Sasuke?" Naruko poked my arm to get me back to reality. I'd lost myself in nostalgia.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think we are going to be able to get stronger as soon as we'd like at this rate. I was thinking we should gather more kinjutsu…and maybe learn jutsu that are suited to our chakra. But then again, I wasn't listening in the Academy. You were though. You must know what I'm talking about, right?"

I stared at her with suspicion and curiosity.

"You mean the special chakra papers that tell you your chakra type is? I think we should train with Kakashi-sensei for a bit before we just give up on Konoha's Copy Ninja. Don't you think so, Kakashi-sensei?" I turned around and gave him a sideways look with my Sharingan. Sakura had also come as well. Sakura took a seat on the grass next to me.

"Alright, tell me a bit about yourselves… likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies…things like that. First up is you, Sakura," Kakashi said.

"My likes, well, the person I like is…" she looked at me. "And my hobby is…well, my dream is…" she squealed.

"What do you hate?" Kakashi asked.

"Naruko."

Then it was Naruko's turn and she talked about her love for ramen.

"What do you hate?" Kakashi asked again.

"Hmm…" she thought about it. "Maybe…" she suddenly had a distant look. Then her face changed just as quickly. "The 3 minute wait time for ramen!"

It was my turn.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. There are a lot of things I hate and not a lot of things I like. Also, I have an ambition that I have no intention of leaving as a dream. The revival of my clan…and to kill a certain man," I said. Sakura looked at me with a surprised and slightly sad look when I'd said that I didn't really like anything.

Our sensei didn't look very impressed. Then he talked about a mission tomorrow and not to eat breakfast. Then he disappeared.

"Naruko. I have something to talk to you about," I said as we stood up.

"Huh? What?" she looked at me.

"Let's go somewhere else," I said.

"What about Sakura-chan?" I turned to her. "You wanna come?" She nodded.

"Sasuke. If it's survival training, what are we surviving?" she asked as we began to walk down to the street.

"Well, we're shinobi now. Shinobi survive by fighting other shinobi. Maybe this is a test to see if we can survive fighting a Jōnin, Kakashi-sensei," I said.

"You're so smart, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed. I ignored her.

"Well, I think we should use teamwork to fight him," Naruko said. I looked at her with an incredulous look.

"What?" she narrowed her eyes. "You don't believe me?"

I sighed. "Fine. But if we fail, if shinobi fail their missions, they don't get paid, but seeing as this may be a test from what he'd said earlier, I think the consequences would be more severe," I said.

"Like what, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. I saw that her and I had been unconsciously following Naruko to Ichiraku's. I frowned but didn't do anything.

"Like being put back into the Academy or something," I said. Naruko smirked and ran over to take a seat. Sakura gasped and ran over to take a seat.

Naruko ordered her bowl and Sakura followed suit. I took the seat next to Naruko, being the only other available seat because 1) there were other customers and 2) I didn't want to sit next to the crazy and weak fangirl. I looked at the menu and couldn't decide.

"Surprise me," I said to the man.

"Ne, Sasuke. You can't be serious that we'd be sent to the Academy," Naruko looked at me skeptically.

"Shinobi must prepare for the worst," I said. She nodded.

Then our ramen came and Naruko fell silent as the three of us began slurping our noodles. Suddenly, Naruko stopped.

"So, what did you have in mind to try to beat him?" she asked me.

"Since we don't know what he's capable of, we need to use clones and watch carefully. Then, we will figure the rest out from there. We shouldn't make plans on assumptions. If we do, we'll just waste our time," I said and continued to eat. Naruko had already finished her 3rd bowl. Sakura just barely managed to finish hers.

"You're such a good strategist, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura blushed.

"Sakura, focus on the mission tomorrow. I don't want to lose," I said. She nodded.

After some time, we all finished our ramen, waiting for Naruko to finish her 5th bowl. I seriously wondered how she didn't explode from all that ramen.

"Sasuke-kun, do you want to walk home together? Our houses are the same way anyway!" Sakura smiled nervously. I looked at her.

"No. I—" I grabbed Naruko's arm. She opened her mouth to protest but was stopped as I finished my sentence. "am walking Naruko home."

"Oh…see you tomorrow," Sakura's shoulders started to shake as she turned away and ran home.

"Hey! Sasuke, what is this about?!" Naruko yelled and tried to free herself from my grip and not succeeding.

"Nothing," I said as I quickened our pace. She narrowed her eyes and stared at me. I turned my head. I was so grateful it was getting dark and we were walking in the darker unlit parts of Konoha. I knew that in between the marketplaces and Naruko's apartment were the slums and the red light district. I could feel the eyes on me, but Naruko walked like there was no danger. Suddenly, I sensed someone quickly coming behind us and took out a kunai and whipped around, trying to stab him.

"Sasuke!" Naruko yelled as she was ripped from my grasp and I noticed there was more people than I'd thought. Naruko was passed to another person and was tied and disappeared in the darkness on the alleys. I glared at the now six people around me and activated my Sharingan and pulled another kunai out. I ran at the one who passed Naruko into the darkness and tried to stab him but he dodged and I felt searing pain in my side as three of them stabbed me. I quickly got behind the first one and stabbed him in his back and he faultered and collapsed. Suddenly, the air got thick and I felt nauseous as I panted; I couldn't help but breathe it in. My vision blurred as the men came forward, moving quickly and I managed to dodge their shuriken and kunai. Suddenly, I couldn't breathe right and I felt the damp ground on my back and a foot holding me in place.

"W-why are you doing this?! I didn't do anything!" I yelled in anger.

"Didn't do anything?! You…you're a disgrace! Walking home with that monster! I can't believe the last Uchiha would go so low as to interact with such filth! But I want you to know something: don't talk to it. You'll only bring yourself lower and the Uchiha and Konoha's name down if you interact with such a killer!" the man yelled.

"You're…different…" I noticed.

"Huh?!"

"Most just ignore her, but you, you don't want anything good to happen to her. I wonder why you are so intent on making sure that she suffers…I know the Kyuubi attack orphaned some children and made some childless and some all alone, but even then, people just don't acknowledge her existence. But you…you're the real monster, for making an innocent girl suffer like this!" I glared up at what I figured what his fuzzy eyes were.

"Damn brat! Since you were an Uchiha, I would've thought that you had some sense! I figured I'd teach you a lesson to try to help you, but you're just an ungrateful brat. Hey, Kouichi, this brat's gonna get a front row seat to the show!" he turned and yelled. I felt my consciousness slip.

"Naruko…" I tried to yelled out but I felt my mouth had some kind of cloth in it and I couldn't move from my kneeling position. I lazily opened my eyes that felt so heavy and could see that there was another person in my predicament about 10ft away from me. The person had a yellow light shining on them while I was in the outside of the light, in darkness. I shifted to see if my kunai and shuriken holster were still on me but they weren't.

"Looks like the brat woke up. Took long enough. Now, we can start the show!" a man yelled as I tried to get a better look at the person in the light as my vision slowly began to clear. I scowled as I recognized the person. I was surprised, but I sort of knew it was Naruko. The way the man hated her so much from his speech earlier, I'd figured out it was her. I doubted there was anyone else in the village they could hate so much. Her eyes looked into my black ones, pleading. I saw what she way trying to say: _Get out of here!_

I shook my head. There was no way I'd leave her. After all, she understood the pain that solitude could bring. She understood more than those fangirls ever could.


	7. Sparring?

"Let's start this show!" a man yelled out to rile up the crowd behind and around Naruko and I.

"Yeah!" the collective yell of the crowd cheered.

"Who would like to go first?" the man yelled out. "But, remember the rules! You can't kill it! You can't make it blind! You can't deal any life-threatening injuries! You can't cut off limbs! You can't use others to help! It is your time to get revenge! You and you alone must avenge your family and friends for the acts it committed against you! Now, let's begin with, you, the one in the green shirt!"

"This is for my son!" a man stepped into the light. He knelt as he drew a blade and traced Naruko's cheek lines with the tip of the blade sinking into her skin, leaving blood to drip down her chin. Next, he stood and kicked Naruko until she screamed so loud each time his foot made contact with her body my ears rung. I felt my chest begin to get tight and warm. I began to feel such rage at these people hurting my best friend.

Time began to pass and Naruko's cries began to get louder and louder that I thought she'd lose her voice. I went back into reality when I saw perhaps the 20th person who wanted revenge. He pushed Naruko on her back and she cried out from the pain of her wounds being touched by the ground.

"You…you're such a beautiful demon!" he said in a dark voice as he positioned himself over her body and his eyes filled with…need. My eyes widened and I felt a second tomoe in my Sharingan. I bit down as hard as I could and tried to cut the cloth. I smirked as the worn cloth cut easily and I spit it out.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" I screamed. I released enough chakra (which was fire nature) to burn the ropes and I shakily stood. Then man above Naruko smirked and decided that the killer intent I was giving off was nothing and within a second he'd cut Naruko's clothes to expose her body and was getting his pants off.

"HEY! YOU! I THOUGHT I SAID _NOT TO TOUCH HER_!" I flashed through the Katon jutsu I knew so well and screamed its name out and flames consumed the people inside, the building, and the man above Naruko, who was a split second away from being raped. I grabbed her and ran out of the building through a window.

I was so angry that if anyone, be it a fangirl, or just a civilian or the Hokage, I'd kill them.

Suddenly, I felt a hand grab by shirt and pull me down to the roof of a building, hard. With the wind knocked out of me, I coughed and wheezed, but refused to let go of Naruko. I turned angrily.

"Who the hell are you?!" I screamed.

"What happened to her?" he asked, completely ignoring my question. I had lost my sense and screamed it out.

"Naruko and I were taken by a gang and I was forced to watch as people with their ridiculous revenge took it out on her! But… I killed them! I know I killed the one who tried to rape her!" I was seething with rage. If this man didn't answer my question, I would try to kill him with all I had. I sensed another chakra coming towards the white haired man and I. I knew this chakra. _Kakashi-sensei._ I glared at the man but in return he handed me a blanket. I wrapped Naruko's black and blue and bleeding body in it and for a moment, she opened her eyes and I saw blood red eyes with black slits which then turned back into an ocean blue, filled with pain and gratefulness. I smiled at her and she fell asleep.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi's visible eye widened. "We need to get her to the hospital now!" I nodded and ran across the rooftops, leaving them to follow behind and talk. I didn't hear them; the wind in my ears was too loud. But it was a good thing. This way, they wouldn't see my face. I felt my face contort in sadness and the tears came for the first time since that night.

I began to get paranoid and sent out chakra. I sensed two chakra sources above the Hokage monuments and I changed course and ran over.

"Why are you here?! Get out of this village!" I yelled at them. They didn't try to attack me.

"You…" Kama started, her eyes began to fill with hate. "How could you let this happen?!"

"That doesn't matter anymore! I killed them! I killed the man who was about to rape her and I killed the ones who gassed me and I killed the ones who made her hurt! And all you do is come back to the village that doesn't want you here just to watch! What a good sister you are! Itachi was better than you!" I didn't even acknowledge Itachi's presence. His face remained the same but I knew he was shocked at what I'd said. I panted hard.

"You are just an arrogant and ignorant Uchiha brat! You still know nothing!" Kama screamed back. Itachi put a hand on her shoulder and her expression turned from murderous to guilty and apologetic. But when her gaze turned back to me, it was still angry.

"If she gets hurt or dies in the Chūnin Exams, I am holding you personally accountable. Seeing as she likes you so much," she smirked. "But don't worry so much. Itachi and I will help from the shadows. That is, unless we get bored."

I felt my face get hot. I knew I was blushing from what she'd said about Naruko and me. I scowled.

"I don't need your help!" I turned my head and went back to going to the hospital.

"If you don't leave, I'll kill you both just as I did with the gang members. And leave Naruko and I alone!" I scowled at them and went faster to the hospital. _I'll be there in 30…29…28…27…26…_

"Sasuke!" Kakashi-sensei yelled out.

"What?!" I said.

"Why did you stop to talk to nuke-nin?! They could've killed or taken you and Naruko! It was reckless!"

"I don't care! I have to get Naruko to the hospital! What you have to worry about is the bell test, right?" I replied.

"I clearly can't do it with Naruko like this!" Kakashi caught up to me.

"Hn," was all I replied.

"I'm going to notify the medical team to assemble to heal Naruko quickly. If you haven't already noticed, she's losing a lot of blood and has multiple fractures in her ribs, arms, legs and bruises all around her body," Kakashi sped ahead.

"_Naruko…_" I whispered and felt tears threaten to come again. I brushed off that feeling and replaced it with hate. _Perhaps now I'll have enough hate to kill Itachi!_

My eyes returned to their normal black and faltered slightly as I stuck the landing to the entrance of the hospital.

"Uchiha-san, bring her here!" a nurse waved me over and I followed her to doors where people in medical attire were waiting. They stood, opened the doors, and allowed me to set down Naruko in the middle of the dark room. They shooed me out and I watched through the glass windows in the doors as they took their places on the ground in a square around Naruko and the room began to glow green as they started medical ninjutsu. Their hair floated as the medical ninjutsu's green light reflected off of everything, including my curious eyes.

After an hour, they finally stopped and allowed me to walk in and scoop up Naruko. She was still asleep. They walked me to a room where they hooked her up to multiple machines and an IV drip. I sat down on a chair and waited for her to wake up. As I sighed when I sat down, a nurse came in.

"So I was right?" she asked.

"Huh?" I was genuinely exhausted.

"About you two…but, I'd like to know what happened more so than just gossip," the nurse from earlier took another chair and sat down and smiled warmly.

"Oh…we were taken and I was knocked out and when I came to, I was forced to watch them beat Naruko. However, I managed to kill them, I think," I said.

"Why would they beat Naruko?" the nurse was now asking a rhetorical question. Sadly, I knew the answer.

"I don't know. Revenge or something," I shrugged. I put my head down and tried to sleep, to tell her to get the hell out. I needed to have some time alone. And Naruko needed a guard.

* * *

"Sa-sasuke?" Naruko asked. My head shot up and my hand dove for a kunai, ready to pull it out.

"You're awake," I sighed and took my hand out of the holster and relaxed a tiny bit.

"Yeah…" Naruko frowned.

"What?" I asked.

"How did I get here? Did…did you bring me here?" her voice got quieter and quieter with each word and her face was slightly pink.

"Yeah. You were beat up pretty bad," I turned away.

"What about the guys who kidnapped us?"

"I burned them," I said simply.

"WHAT?!" she bolted upright, but then sank down a little from the pain.

"I used my Katon jutsu and burned them," I said.

"DID YOU KILL THEM?!" her eyes were wide.

"Hn." I shrugged.

Naruko didn't seem to have a response to this.

"Ne, Sasuke…" she turned away and whispered.

"What?" I arched an eyebrow.

"A-arigatou…" she said it so quietly I thought I didn't hear correctly.

"Hm? What was that? I didn't quite hear you," I smirked.

"I'M NOT SAYING IT AGAIN!" she turned to me with an angry look with a fierce blush and threw her pillow at me. It happened so fast and at pretty much point-blank range that I didn't have the time to react, much less dodge. It hit me square in the face. I grabbed it from where it had dropped in my lap and I threw it back at her as hard as I could without breaking it into shreds.

Sadly, I overestimated how strong the pillowcase was and it broke and feathers filled the air.

"SASUKE!" Naruko yelled and began to throw anything she could get her hands on.

"NARUKO!" I accepted the challenge and threw as many things as I could get my hands on, including kunai and shuriken.

"I'M NOT GONNA LOSE TO YOU! I'M GOING TO WIN!" we both yelled and we threw things at a much faster pace.

I panted hard and sat down hard in my chair. Naruko laid down on her bed and panted just as hard.

"I…" we both started.

"WON!" we both said and glared at each other. Still, in the end, Naruko's clothes were ripped up to the point where it was quite suggestive but I tried to ignore that as much as I could. After all, she still wasn't flat chested. I smirked as I remembered the other day and her reaction to me saying that.

Not to say I wasn't in the same position. Naruko had taken the kunai right out of air and returned them. My clothes were ripped so much that I wondered how they stayed on. If a fangirl was to come in, I would never live down the rumors that would spread. It only makes it worse that Naruko looks the same and we're panting…someone could really get the wrong idea…

"You two were having a _friendly_ spar?" Kakashi's eyes glimmered with amusement as he sat just outside the window and knew he'd hit the right spot to make us squirm.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Naruko yelled as her face turned a bright red.

"NO!" I knew my face looked the same.

"Ohhh…so you weren't sparring? You two were…" Kakakshi was definitely smirking. I knew he was behind that stupid mask.  
"NO!" Naruko and I screamed at him and Naruko's face turned even redder.

"Well, I just came by to tell you guys that your mission with Sakura and I is tomorrow, at the same time of 5am. Don't eat breakfast," Kakashi eye-smiled and poofed away.

"Sasuke, we're so going to kill him!" she said, still blushing. I nodded.

"Go back to sleep," I ordered.

"But I'm already healed. See?" Naruko pulled her shirt, which ripped easily. She was wearing a bra, thankfully, and she turned to show me her back, which was flawless, I mean, didn't have any bruises or anything.

"What about your broken ribs?" I crossed my arms.

"Well…" she smiled sheepishly.

"Sleep," I ordered. I made sure my voice was authoritative. She pouted and then grabbed the covers as she turned over. After a few minutes, her breathing evened out and I knew she was asleep.

"Now…should I go to get new clothes for us or stay?" I asked myself. After debating for a minute, I'd decided to get clothes for us.


	8. Hinata

I sweatdropped as I opened the door to Naruko's apartment (I'd picked the lock). It was a total mess! There were kunai and chopsticks and empty ramen cups and a bunch of other things all over the ground. _How did she never impale herself with this amount of kunai around?!_

I shook my head and walked to her room.

"Naruko…" I said to myself as I surveyed her room. Her signature orange jumpsuit was on the floor along with a couple shirts, and…a pair of pink panties was on her bed. I cringed and stepped over scrolls and shuriken and clothes to get to her closet. I opened the closet with severe caution, afraid that it would explode with clothes and I would be buried forever, but it opened easily and had very few clothes hung on hangers. I counted her clothes in my head, giving myself a rough estimate: _Two for the outfit she's wearing, her jumpsuit here, and four, five, shirts? She doesn't have as many clothes as I thought an average girl would have…_

I frowned and picked up a black shirt with the whirlpool insignia on it and an orange skirt.

I jumped over rooftops to get to my apartment. I slipped in and grabbed a shirt and shorts. I ran on the streets to get back to the hospital.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino and Sakura yelled. I grimaced and ran even faster.

"Who made your clothes like that?!" Sakura yelled. I kept running. _They're gaining on me!_

"Was it that ugly Naruko?!" Ino yelled. I stopped running and turned to them and jumped a few feet back. I activated my Sharingan and gave them a cold glare.

"That," they flinched. "Is none of your business," I said and walked away. I heard them bickering behind me about who made me mad and I smirked. They were such idiots.

Naruko was fast asleep. She had her arms and legs stretched out like a starfish and she was drooling. I sighed. She was awfully messy after all.

"Oi, dobe. Here's your clothes," I tossed them to her face and after a moment, she bolted upright.

"Oh, it's just you," she said, smiling sheepishly. She took the shirt and put it on.

"What were you expecting?" I crossed my arms.

"Oh…nothing…" she said.

I shook my head and put my clothes on. I sighed and took a seat. Naruko must've noticed the nervousness on my face that was dissipating.

"What's wrong? The fangirls chase you all the way here?" she smirked. I nodded and put my head down.

"_Naruko!" I screamed. I watched as Itachi killed her in front of me and her sister watched with no emotion._

"_Kama! Itachi! You did this! Why?!" I screamed as tears ran down my face. I made no movement to wipe them away. I felt my eyes burn and I knew I had something my father only talked about: the Mangekyou Sharingan._

"_You're not worthy of the Uchiha name," Itachi stated as he moved to stab me with his katana._

"Naruko…" I whispered as I opened my eyes. My eyes didn't burn and I saw the sky was dark.

"Yes, Sasuke?" she looked at me worriedly.

"Nothing," I said and stretched.

"Liar," she crossed her arms and glared.

"I said—" I was cut off by someone entering the room.

"Visiting hours are over," a familiar voice stated. _Sakura._

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! I can stay here and then the nurses will let you stay," Sakura smiled and turned to a cabinet and pulled out a needle and some liquid in a jar. She pulled the needle back and the needle filled with the liquid and walked back over to Naruko's IV and stabbed the bag with the needle and the liquid mixed with the little fluid there was left and she increased the pace of the drops that entered Naruko's bloodstream.

"Wait, Sakura-chan, what're you doing?" Naruko's voice let out a bit of panic.

"Just making sure you stay well!" she smiled and let the needle drop to the floor.

"What did you do to me?!" her eyes began to close and she could barely move.

"Hey! Sakura!" I scowled.

"Just what do you think you're doing to her?!" a deadly female voice called from the window. Sakura, Naruko and I turned to Kama.

"Y-you're Namikaze Kama! The S-rank nuke-nin!" Sakura screamed. "Sasuke!"

I frowned at her and scowled at Sakura.

"You're the weakest kunoichi I've ever seen! Relying on someone during a mission will get not only you but your whole team killed," Kama glared at her. "Now. Answer me," Kama released more killer intent.

"I…I wanted s-some alone t-time with Sa-sasuke," Sakura stuttered. Kama scowled and her face darkened. She jumped into the room and placed a hand on Naruko's forehead and did something. Naruko groaned and her eyes opened slightly with a glazed look in her eyes.

"There. Now, I'd like for you to leave her _alone_," Kama said to Sakura with such a tone of finality that Sakura simply nodded and burst into tears. Kama disappeared out of thin air and I sighed. Today was quite eventful. Although, tomorrow might be even more so.

I walked to the training ground we were supposed to meet at. I saw Naruko walking as well. _Where is Sakura?_ I wondered. We waited many many hours until out sensei showed up. Still, Sakura was a no-show.

"You're late!" Naruko yelled. Kakashi eye-smiled. Hinata stood nervously behind him.

"Oh, well, a black cat crossed my way and…" Kakashi said. "There has been a change in the squad formations. Hyuuga Hinata will be moving into our team and Haruno Sakura will be moving into Team 8."

"Why?" I asked.

"Anyway, today your objective is to get one of these bells. If you don't by 12:00, you don't eat lunch. I'm going to tie you to one of those logs and eat lunch in front of you," Kakashi said.

"But…but…if we all need to get one, that means we need three bells. Why do you only have two?" Naruko frowned.

"Because the person who doesn't get one within the time limit will be tied to the log and go back to the Academy. You can use your shuriken and you have to come at me with the will to kill me if you want to get a bell and eat lunch," Kakashi said.

"That's dangerous…" Hinata said.

"Yeah! Says the one who couldn't even get here on time cause he's so lazy!" Naruko smirked.

"In society, those who don't have many ablilites tend to complain more. Just ignore the one with the lowest score," Kakashi said. "Ok, when I say start, you can start."

Naruko's face changed to one of an angry and annoyed one. She suddenly pulled out a kunai and charged. In a flash, Kakashi had gotten her hand to be pointing the kunai to her neck.

"I hadn't said start yet," Kakashi scolded. He let Naruko go and she sent him a dirty look.

"Ready, start!" Kakashi yelled. We all scattered.

I jumped to a tree and saw Naruko standing out in the open.

"That idiot…" I sighed. I knew she couldn't beat him on her own. I jumped down and saw Hinata had had the same idea. I jumped over to Hinata.

"Sasuke-san?" she asked.

"We both know Naruko can't do this on her own. We need to help," I said.

"H-hai," Hinata said.

"Let's go," I said.

We ran to where Naruko was. We saw her being thrown into the water. I had the feeling she didn't know how to swim. On impulse, I jumped out of the tree. I took out a kunai and threw it at him. I sensed Hinata following me closely.

"Hinata, go help Naruko," I ordered. Kakashi dodged my kunai while reading his book. I quickly did the handsigns for the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. I breathed out the fire and it quickly enveloped Kakashi. I smirked but had the feeling it wasn't over.

I'd be right. A hand grabbed my ankle and I was almost pulled into the ground. Hinata struck his hand with her Jūken style. Naruko pulled out a kunai and stabbed his hand before he could react.

"Ha! That's what you get, bastard!" Naruko laughed.

Suddenly, the bell rang. It was noon. His hand poofed into smoke and he appeared behind us.

"W-well, Kakashi-sensei, I was wondering what the real purpose of this mission was. Fighting against a stronger shinobi was something we'd done in the Academy as well as sparring against our classmates. I know it's good to get practice, but I feel like getting bells wasn't the real purpose. So then, what is it?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Hinata, you are right. The purpose of this mission was to see if you pass or fail. The purpose of working in groups is teamwork," Kakashi said.

"Then what is the purpose of teamwork with only two bells? If all three work hard, that means that one person is sacrificed. It will cause group conflict instead of teamwork," Hinata countered.

"Of course. This test puts you up against each other. In this situation, we prioritize those who can put teamwork before themselves. That was the real purpose. Missions are done in groups. It's true that ninjas need well-developed individual abilities, but teamwork is much more important. An individual actions that disrupts teamwork will result in the possible death of your teammates. For example, if one of you gets taken hostage, you will be faced with a difficult decision and someone will die. In every mission, you put your life on the line," Kakashi walked over to a cenotaph.

"Look, numerous names have been carved into this stone. All of these people have been hailed as heroes," Kakashi said.

"Cool! I am going to have my name carved into that! A hero! I'm not going to die a useless death!" Naruko yelled.

"But they're not ordinary heroes," Kakashi said.

"Then what kind were they?!" Naruko yelled.

"Those who were KIA," Kakashi said after a long pause.

"Huh?" Naruko asked.

"Killed in Action, dobe," I said.

"This is a cenotaph. The names of my friends are carved here," Kakashi said. "I'll give you three another chance to get the bells. But it'll be much harder. But don't let Naruko eat," Kakashi said.

"WHAT?!" Naruko yelled.

"If any of you feed her, you'll immediately fail," Kakashi walked away. I grabbed my bento and Hinata followed.

_He just proved that teamwork is more important. Then why is he splitting us up? Making us eat while one doesn't get to. It's the same as the bell test. If he wants us to get the bells, we need to be in top shape, including Naruko. I don't care that we might never become ninjas again. We need to pass this mission! _I thought. I held up my bento box.

"Sasuke…" she started. "T-thanks…but…" she showed that she couldn't eat on her own.

I blushed slightly. I grabbed my chopsticks and shoved rice into her mouth. She choked and spit it out.

"Hey! Sasuke!" Naruko was cut off as Hinata put a piece of karaage in her mouth. Naruko chewed and looked at Hinata gratefully. Hinata smiled.

"YOU THREE! You broke my rule of not feeding her! Are you prepared for your punishment?" he did a few hand signs and the skies darkened. Lightning flashed and he asked for any last words.

"We're a three man team, right?" I asked my teammates.

"All three of us are one!" Hinata didn't stutter this time.

"All three of you are one, huh?" Kakashi didn't let up the lightning. "You PASS!" he eye-smiled.

"YEAH!" Naruko yelled.

"Team 7 starts mission tomorrow!" Kakashi said.

"FINALLY! I'M GONNA BE A NINJA!" Naruko yelled. I smiled at her and she suddenly stopped and blushed. I untied her and we all walked home.

"Hey! How about we all get ramen?" Naruko asked excitedly.

"Yeah," I said.

"Sounds like a good idea," Kakashi agreed. Hinata nodded.

A/N Sorry I haven't updated in a while…I was a little busy. And had some computer problems.


	9. Mistake or Not?

"In my honest opinion, you all are weak. When the Chuunin Exams start, and they're going to be held here in Konoha, you are all going to fail. That's why today, I wasn't late and—" Kakashi was cut off by Naruko's outburst.

"You were an hour late!" Naruko yelled.

"And I'm going to train all of you. If we have enough time, I'm going to help you three develop your own jutsus," Kakashi finished.

"Hey, what are the Chuunin Exams anyway?" Naruko asked.

"It's the test for ninjas from around the world to take part in and become Chuunin level ninjas. In order to be a Hokage, Naruko, you need to become Chuunin next, then Jōnin, then Hokage. That's how all Kages became Kages," Kakashi said.

"Kakashi-sensei, when are the Chuunin Exams?" Hinata asked.

"In a couple months," Kakashi answered.

"T-that's awfully soon!" Hinata's eyes widened.

"Exactly," Kakashi said. "Now, unless Naruko has more questions, let's begin," Kakashi made the Kage Bunshin sign and two more Kakashi's appeared.

"You're going to be facing teams of three in the Chuunin Exams. I'm going to come at you and I'm going to attack you at your weak abilities. You must work as a team," Kakashi said as the three Kakashi's charged at us.

I knew Naruko's weak point was genjutsu. Kakashi almost immediately tried to put her in a genjutsu, but I threw a kunai at one of him and channeled chakra to my hand and touched Naruko on her back to undo the genjutsu. Her eyes regained their sparkle and she charged at Kakashi and made 10 replicas of herself. Hinata was defending herself well against Kakashi until he disappeared behind her. I ran over and punched him. Suddenly, he was at my back with a kunai as my throat. I elbowed him and jumped away. I did the handsigns for Katon: Gōkyakyuu no Jutsu and breathed fire at him. Naruko and Hinata jumped to my side and Naruko moved to my back and Hinata scanned for him with her Byakugan.

"I can't find him, or any of his clones," Hinata said. Suddenly, a hand grabbed Naruko's ankle and she turned into just a head on the ground.

"N-naruko-san!" Hinata gasped as she got Naruko out of the ground. I activated my Sharingan. I looked for his chakra signature and found it right in front of me. I engaged Kakashi in a taijutsu battle. I managed to push him back and used my Katon jutsu again. He used a water technique and steam exploded around us. Naruko threw kunai with wire and set up an elaborate web to that it would be hard for him to come for us easily.

Sadly, we'd underestimated him. He somehow cut all of the wire and charged at us. He engaged Hinata with ninjutsu. Another clone engaged me in a genjutsu battle which I used as a good opportunity to use my Sharingan in a battle. The last clone engaged Naruko with taijutsu battle.

After switching off from taijutsu to genjutsu to ninjutsu and so on many times with each of us, we stopped once it was nearly 6pm. The sky turned a brilliant orange. The three of us laid on our backs, panting hard. After a few minutes, Naruko pestered Kakashi about going to Ichiraku for ramen.

"Actually, my friend Asuma invited all of us to go to a popular barbeque restaurant. It may be a nice break from the ramen-only diet of yours, Naruko," Kakashi said. "I think there will be other teams there as well."

Naruko pouted. "Fine…"

"It…s-sounds like…a good idea," Hinata panted in between words. Naruko helped her stand and we walked to wherever Kakashi was talking about.

"Kakashi! My eternal rival!" a man in a hideous green leotard jumped out of the building and greeted Kakashi. Suddenly, a look-alike of the bowl-haircut Jōnin came out.

"G-good evening. I am Rock Lee. And what is your name?" Lee asked Naruko, slightly blushing with that stupid frown on his face. I glared daggers at him. I activated my Sharingan.

"Leave her alone," I ordered.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruko, dattebayo," Naruko said.

"You are Uchiha Sasuke, correct?" Lee asked me. I glared harder. Hinata poked Naruko and whispered something in her ear. Naruko nodded. I narrowed my eyes, wanting for some ridiculous reason to know what Hinata said. Then, another man came out.

"Hey, Kakashi," a man with a cigarette in his mouth greeted Kakashi.

"Oh, hi Asuma," Kakashi said. He turned to us. "Come on, let's go inside."

We went inside and sat at a large table. There, a Jōnin kunoichi and her team were waiting along with five other shinobi. I sat in a place where Lee couldn't talk to Naruko without going through me. Hinata look a seat next to Naruko. Naruko smiled at her. I felt a cold gaze travel from me to Naruko to Hinata. I saw a boy with the same white eyes as Hinata sitting across. Hinata frowned and tried to make herself smaller. I heard my name being called as I took a piece of cooked meat and ate it.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino called. Oh, great.

I didn't answer. I saw a fat boy next to her looking at Naruko.

"I'm Akimichi Chouji," he said to Naruko. Another boy with a dog on his head piped up.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba and this is Akamaru," the boy said. I could feel my rage boiling over. My body moved on its own as I grabbed Naruko's chin and kissed her.

"There. Now you know she's mine!" I glared at them. Ino and Sakura looked shocked.

"Teme!" Naruko yelled. Her cheeks burned a deep red blush. I saw her eyes suddenly turn red and Kakashi stiffened. She stood and ran out. Hinata followed her.

The red-eyed Jōnin kunoichi and the smoking Jōnin let out a low whistle.

"Sasuke…" Kakashi started.

"Uchiha, I must warn you to never play with a girl's emotions. She's already unstable," a girl with twin buns in her hair said.

"You stay out of it!" I yelled. I could feel another tomoe come into my Sharingan.

"No, you need to hear this. I am pretty good at reading people, especially girls. She doesn't know whether or not to like you or not but this just now confused her. A kiss is a romantic thing, and that's probably what she wants to believe. But, the kiss wasn't real. You were just making sure no one else tried to hit on her. I'm not going to ask the obvious question there. Going back to her, the kiss was just evidence. It wasn't romantic. But still, it was a kiss. And now, more than ever, I think she is questioning her feelings for you," the girl said as she twirled her straw in her cup.

"Feelings…for me?" I was puzzled. Naruko having feelings for me? No, that was impossible.

**Naruko POV**

"N-naruko-san!" Hinata ran after me. I ran as fast as I could, quickly losing Hinata. I ran down to the dock and I concealed my chakra as much as I could.

I felt tears run down my face and I let my sobs out. I couldn't believe Sasuke would kiss me just to claim me as his _property_. I was right; he was just an arrogant bastard.

"_Naruko…_" a man's voice called out. It was the same one as last time. I went into my subconscious.

"What, Dad?" I asked. He was smiling awkwardly.

"What?!" I asked impatiently.

"You like Sasuke, don't you?" my mother teased. I frowned.

"I don't think so, anymore…" I looked at the ground.

"Anymore?" he asked, surprised. I heard a bit of disappointment and anger in his voice as well.

"What? You're gonna beat him to a bloody pulp for breaking my heart?" I asked quietly.

"Ha! I knew it!" my mother laughed.

"What?" I asked.

"I knew you liked him! It's hard not to like a guy with that pretty face," Kushina put a hand to her chin. My father pouted.

"Kushina~" he whined.

"Oh, hush you. You know I'll always love you. He's Mikoto-chan's kid. And my kid's guy. So I really can't even try to date him. I'm stuck here," Kushina reassured him.

"You didn't even include the fact that you're married. To _me,_" my father had a gloomy aura.

"Yeah yeah," Kushina waved it off.

"So? Is there anything else you guys want to talk to me about? I can lend you some chakra so that you will be able to stay longer," I offered.

"Naruko. That boy's eyes are filled with hatred. Hatred for Uchiha Itachi for killing their clan. Sasuke will eventually either stay in the village to gain enough power or leave the village. He will become a nuke-nin. If you really love him, you must make sure that he never leaves the village," my father said to me seriously. I blushed and looked at my feet.

"But, Naruko-chan, if he doesn't leave the village, there's nothing to worry about!" my mother said cheerily.

I thought about this. Sasuke…leave the village? I couldn't, no, didn't want to believe he would leave everything…me, behind. It would hurt more if he left now than anything. But, if he did, I had to make sure that I would be strong enough to not let him leave. Oh, the Chuunin Exams! I need to get stronger for that too!

"Ne, Tou-chan, Kaa-chan…" I started.

"Hm?" they replied.

"The Chuunin Exams are coming up. Is there anything you guys can teach me in my free time?" I asked, smiling a little.

"Hmmm…" my dad has his face mustered in thought.

"Minato, come on. You can teach her that. Kakashi-kun's not gonna teach her that anytime soon, dattebane," my mother frowned at him. He sighed.

"I'll teach you the jutsu I created myself. It's called the Rasengan," my father said.

"What's that?!" I asked, completely forgetting my sadness and anger to utter elation.

"A powerful A-rank technique. It's a spiraling sphere of chakra. It doesn't require any handsigns, but it is very difficult to learn. Originally, I had wanted to include my chakra affinity into it, but I died before I could complete it," my father said.

"Ooh! I can teach you some killer fūinjutsu techniques! It'll make sure that you can have the opportunity to be the best Chuunin and then Hokage Konoha has ever seen!" my mother yelled. I couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you so much! I have to sort things out with teme but then after training or something I'll come back and have you guys teach me!" I was brimming with joy. "Oh, before I forget, I'll give you guys some chakra so you won't disappear," I said. My mother took my right and my father my left. I channeled chakra into my hands and they gladly took it.

"I promise to see you guys later! I love you!" I said, smiling like an idiot. They waved as I returned to reality.

**Sasuke POV**

I left a few minutes after Naruko ran out. I'd sat there, debating whether or not to run after her and explain myself. I'd decided that I'd need to reconcile with her sooner or later and if we wanted to survive the Chuunin Exams, I'd need to have her willing to work with me. I got up and for some strange reason, I felt tears threatening to run down my face. I tried as hard as I could to stop them, but they wouldn't allow it. I bit my lip until I tasted blood and I walked out.

The night was slightly chilly. I shivered as the tears made my face cold, but the tears were hot. I walked to my apartment in silence to think about what I should say to her.

I flopped down on my bed.

"Tsk tsk tsk…" a familiar voice called out. I looked up.

"What?" I asked.

She smirked. "You've made her even more confused. Just what are you playing at? Did that kiss mean you liked her or was it just a mark of property? Do you like her or not? That's what she's probably asking herself. I kinda pity her, though. Itachi and I never went through such things as this. Well, she also might be thinking more so of kicking your ass," Kama said.

"Get the hell out. You're not involved," I said.

"Oh? I'm not?" she asked, still smirking.

"No! Now get away from us!" I yelled.

"You're letting your emotions cloud your judgment. Go. Now," she said, her smirk disappearing and her face turning to one of a dark commander. My face contorted into a confused one. I didn't know why I would be confused. I supposed that that was why I was confused; I didn't know how to deal with such an emotion-filled situation. Years of pushing people back made me clueless of how to deal with this type of situation. I got up and went out.

I don't care if she pushes me away. I will make sure she listens. I don't know what I'll say, but I'll figure that out later. For now, finding her and telling her my feelings was my priority.


	10. Sake

"Naruko!" I yelled. I couldn't seem to find her, even with my Sharingan. She had really hidden herself well. I had been searching for three hours. I would've thought that someone with such horrible chakra control as her wouldn't be able to vanish like that. Naruko was likely to be in a few places. Her apartment, the top of the Hokage monument, the swing in front of the Academy…

I went to every place and couldn't find her. I hated to admit it, but I needed help.

"Sasuke-san!" a familiar voice called.

"Hm?" I turned to see Hinata, running over.

"Naruko-san…she…ran off!" she panted hard with her hands on her knees. She deactivated her Byakugan.

"I was looking for her with my Sharingan, but I can't seem to find her. As her teammates, we should look together," I said. Hinata looked surprised then nodded. I am pretty sure she saw through my words and saw that I needed her help. We walked to the highest point in the middle of the village and Hinata looked in every direction.

"I found her! I don't know how I didn't see her before!" she said.

"Where?" I demanded. She sweatdropped and didn't answer.

"Where?" I asked again.

"The bathhouse…" she said. My eyes widened.

"Well, that's good because Kurenai and Asuma's teams are going as we speak," a voice said from behind us.

"K-kakashi-sensei!" Hinata said. I sighed.

"Fine," I said.

"I'm sure you can be friendly and ask for soap from your fellow genin shinobi, ne?" Kakashi was really forcing us to go. A nerve popped out on my head.

"Let's go already!" I scowled.

* * *

**Naruko POV**

I blew bubbles out of my nose and sank deeper into the water. I couldn't stop thinking about that kiss. I wanted Sasuke to like me…but I knew he wouldn't. If I fell for him, I would be the same as those fangirls. Then Sasuke would hate me for sure. Even more than he already does. That kiss…I bet he just wanted to…to…I don't know…

I looked up as I heard another person walk in.

"That was kinda funny," the woman said.

"Huh?" I asked, hoping she wasn't a patron in the restaurant who saw Sasuke and I.

"You and Uchiha," she said as she started to wash herself.

"He was just being a jerk," I countered. My eyes widened as I recognized the woman.

"Why are you here?" I asked angrily.

"Oh, come on. Can't a girl talk to her sister about boy troubles?" she snickered as she poured water over her head and walked over to the bath.

"…fine," I sighed. I was too tired to fight about this kind of thing anyway.

"Would you like to know why he kissed you, from a bystander's point of view?" she asked as she draped an arm over me. I didn't answer.

"Well, I since those boys were flirting with you, or if you can call those pathetic attempts flirting, he got angry. They kept messing with him, or they were actually flirting, and he snapped. He wanted to protect you from them and make sure that the message went across: you were his. He likes you, and wants you to be his girlfriend…and perhaps eventually the one to restore his clan, dattebane," Kama said. I mulled this over and Ididn't feel like she was simply saying this to make me feel better, but to tell me the truth. Either way, it was music to my ears. I remained quiet as I felt a smile tug as my lips.

"Ne, I feel like you're finally showing me your true personality," I said, grinning a little.

"Well, I'm cold to Sasuke because he doesn't like me," she said simply. I heard more people come into the bath house in both sides.

"I can't believe Sasuke would kiss her! In front of ME!" Ino complained.

"Shut up! He's mine! I'm going to make him fall for me, and not that stupid ugly Naruko girl," Sakura said. Kama disappeared from my side and reappeared behind Sakura.

"Would you like to repeat that about my sister?" she asked.

"Y-you're Namikaze Kama! The nuke-nin!" Ino yelled.

"But, I'm not going to hurt any of you. Unless you do something I don't like. But I want to get to know my sister's friends dattebane," she said cheerily.

"H-hai!" Sakura and Ino said, terrified of the nude nuke-nin in front of them.

"Don't forget that I can kill you in an instant," she said and walked back to me. I sighed; somehow knowing it would come to this. They got even more terrified as she said this with such a calm look.

* * *

Ino, Sakura, Hinata and Tenten all washed themselves and went into the bath.

"Ok! I want everyone here to know that Naruko is my sister! She is super pretty, but not as much as me! I also want to teach her all the jutsu I know but being a nuke-nin makes it hard to do that," she pouted.

"Wait, wasn't the name Namikaze the last name of the Yondaime Hokage?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know. Maybe you should find out," she shrugged. My eyes widened. Everyone stilled as we heard loud conversations from over the wall coming from the men's side of the bathhouse. We listened in closely.

"Sasuke, you know we were kidding about provoking you!" Kiba said.

"I wasn't! Naruko is beautiful!" Lee yelled. Kama punched my arm as I blushed.

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled angrily.

"Come on! Lighten up!" Chouji said.

"It's a real drag having you be all cold. We were all in the same class together anyway," Shikamaru sighed.

"But, Sasuke, the thing we want to know is if that kiss was real or just to fight back our teasing," Kiba said.

"Why should I tell you anything?!" Sasuke yelled. I could practically hear the blush creep on his face.

"Sasuke! You're blushing! You're not in the water so you can't blame it on the heat of the water!" Kiba laughed. "No matter what you say now can't change this! You _like_ her!"

"I wanna know what you see in her," Chouji said. "I mean, she's kinda pretty but she's loud and the dead last in our class."

"I guess it's because she understands me, and the pain of solitude," Sasuke said.

"Anything else? Her personality? Her looks? Her body? ANYTHING ELSE?" Kiba complained.

"No. Now go away," Sasuke said. I stood to walk away to beat the crap out of all of them there, but Kama held my arm. She smirked and I knew that whatever she had in mind wasn't good.

"Hey! Naruko, what do you think of that kiss? Do you like Sasuke?!" Kama said loudly. She was doing this on purpose. I sighed inwardly. Ino and Sakura glared at me. Kama smiled at them and they shivered.

"Oh, I don't know what he was trying to say! Maybe he likes me, but it was hard to tell! Maybe he was being a jerk!" I laughed a little, playing along.

"Hey girls! Do you like any of the guys in your teams or on other teams?" Kama asked loudly.

"I LOVE SASUKE-KUN!" Ino and Sakura yelled.

"What about you, Hyuuga?" Kama asked.

"N-no, n-n-not in pa-partic-cular…" Hinata stuttered.

"Well! As for me!" Kama started. I almost facepalmed at her antics and how she was about to be dragging this out as she put a hand on her chest in a prideful way.

"I want Naruko to know, as her S-rank NUKE-NIN SISTER! THAT I FELL IN LOVE WITH AND HAD A CHILD WITH UCHIHA…" she started, feeling the tension grow as the seconds passed and the wide eyes on both sides of the bathhouse. I was tempted to ask if she was drunk to be revealing such sensitive information, but I didn't object. Like I could against an S-rank nuke-nin.

"ITACHI!" she yelled. She smiled like a loon. I was about to ask if it was true about the child part, but I was interrupted.

"you called?" a voice said quietly. I turned to see none other than Uchiha Itachi with a blindfold over his eyes and a towel around his waist. She blushed and nodded.

"What's wrong? Or were you just showing me off?" he smirked.

"Itachi, go back to the other side. I want to enjoy my time here as much a possible!" she smiled brightly. I felt another chakra signature come.

"Itachi! Why the hell are you here?!" Sasuke yelled. He clearly hadn't noticed that coming to Itachi would require being in the women's side. I stood and tried to punch the living daylight out of him, but he just moved in front of me, standing between me and Itachi and Kama. Kama frowned.

"Uchiha, I wasn't done talking to her. Get back to the men's side," she said. She let out a lot of killer intent, and Sasuke frowned. He threw a towel at me and we disappeared.

* * *

"Teme!" I started, half blushing from my severe lack of clothes in front of him. I looked around and I saw we were in his apartment. "Actually, never mind," I decided not to talk to him until he apologized _sincerely_ from earlier. I crossed my arms and put my nose up in the air.

"Naruko," he said seriously. I opened one eye to look at him.

"Hm?" I asked.

"I…I um…" Sasuke looked nervous.

"You're sorry for kissing me in front of everyone which humiliated me?" I asked levelly.

"Yeah…" he said.

"Alright. But I have one question," I said. He looked so surprised that I forgave him so easily.

"What?"

"What were you trying to prove? Were you just trying to make Kiba and the rest of them stop flirting with me or was that kiss real?" I asked. I tried my hardest not to smirk but it was so hard!

"That has the same answer. No matter what I say it will prove both of our thoughts," he said.

"What does that mean?"

"It means…" he got nervous again.

"Argh, spit it out, Uchiha," I said, frustrated.

"Naruko…" he started. I saw a smirk forming on his face.

"I think I love you," he said as he stepped forward and kissed me. My eyes widened but then I caved and kissed him back. His arms reached back and pulled me closer to him. He broke the kiss and said:

"Now I have two questions for you," he smirked as I blushed hard.

"W-what?" I whispered.

"Do you love me back?" he asked. I nodded and stared at my feet.

"Well? What's the other question?" I asked.

"I think I'll ask later," he said as he kissed me again. I wrapped my arms around him and he followed. We stood there for a while and broke the kiss for air.

"Let's not die in the Chūnin Exams," he said.

"Okay," I said with a small smile.

"Woot! I thought that cold Uchiha would never get a girlfriend!" Kiba yelled. He was looking in through the glass of the door leading out to the balcony. A nerve popped out on my head and I stomped over to him and slammed the door open. I noticed that it had been recently fixed and I almost broke it from using that much force.

"You…you saw…." I said murderously. My long blonde hair began to float and my eyes glowed dangerously.

"I ain't afraid of you! And I am certainly telling Sakura about this!" he smiled and ran off.

**Sasuke POV**

I panted hard and collapsed. Two weeks had gone by since I kissed Naruko. Kakashi was making sure our teamwork was perfect and he said that in a week he might start either teaching us new jutsus or helping us make our own jutsus. Naruko was in a similar state and Hinata had passed out. Kakashi stood in front of us with a creepy eye-smile and knelt down behind us. We looked up at him upside down.

"What, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruko asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just looking at you two…" he said.

"Shut up…" I said.

"What's wrong with a teacher looking at his students?" he asked.

"You're a pervert, that's why," Naruko glared.

"Naruko, don't concern yourself with him. Didn't you say you wanted to get ramen after this?" I asked as I got up. I held out a hand and she took it. I pulled her up.

"Well? Or was it a genjutsu that you somehow pulled off even though that's your worst skill?" I smirked. I got the desired reaction: her wanting to beat the crap out of me. I held her back and took her to Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

"Teme, I thought you didn't like ramen," she eyed me suspiciously.

"I thought it'd see if I like it or not again. Some people say that the foods you don't like are just foods you have to get an acquired taste for," I explained.

"I've never heard anyone say that…especially when referring to something as holy as _ramen_," she sweatdropped.

"Shut up, let's order," I said. Naruko ordered miso ramen and I ordered whatever the cook would like to surprise me with.

"Well would you look at that!" Ayame said, smiling as she gave us each a glass of water.

"What?" Naruko asked in between slurps of her ramen. I looked up.

"Naruko finally got a boyfriend!" she said. "Congrat—"

"What are you talking about?!" Naruko and I screamed.

She sighed. "That just proves it…"

Another lady came out from the other part of the shop.

"Ayame-chan, what is all that screaming?" a woman with slightly purple hair and brown eyes asked.

"Anko-chan! Look at these lovebirds! Aren't they _cute?!_" Ayame laughed. Anko walked over and looked at us intently.

"Wait, aren't you the blond girl who always pulls all those pranks and aren't you the Uchiha kid? Isn't your sensei that Kakashi guy?" she asked.

"Yeah! How'd ya know?" Naruko asked, her mouth full of ramen.

"I have my sources. Plus you two alone are famous. If only she was here to kick your ass, Uchiha. My friend would _never_ let you be near her. But the funny thing is that she dated an Uchiha. I just get the feeling that she hates your guts. And if she knew you two are dating—don't lie, it's written on your faces and I'd guess this is your first date—she'd really kick your ass, Uchiha," Anko said.

"You're like an investigator! You can just read us so easily!" Naruko laughed. I raised an eyebrow. Why wasn't Naruko reacting to her comments the way normal people would? I mean, she certainly wasn't normal, but she wasn't even making a comment about her saying 'dating'. Ayame refilled her glass again. Wait, wasn't this the fifth time she'd refilled her glass? I picked up her glass and sniffed the liquid and it had a slightly sharp smell. _Sake._

"That's 'cause I am an investigator! You're slow, even for a genin. You must've passed by some miracle to be a genin," Anko smirked.

"Hey! I am not slow! And yeah, I did pass by a miracle! The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! And I beat Mizuki-sensei's ass with that killer technique!" Naruko laughed and then passed out, her head hitting on the counter.

"Ayame. That isn't water. It's sake. She got drunk. Looks like I'm taking her home then…" I sighed, put down some money to pay for everything, and picked her up.

"Aww! They're so cute! I bet their kids are going to be so adorable!" Ayame said to Anko. Anko laughed and they kept talking as I tried to hide my blush and walked home quickly.


	11. Tomatoes

I set Naruko down on my bed and I looked around for an extra futon for me to sleep on. There was no way in hell that I was sleeping in the same bed as her, especially when she's drunk. Naruko began to talk in her sleep and moved around a lot. She tossed and turned with a concerned and nervous face. I pulled a chair from my table and sat there, watching her. I never knew people could be so restless when asleep. It was like she couldn't relax.

I stopped after a few minutes, realizing that this was pointless and stupid. Why would I need to watch her? If she fell off, she probably wouldn't even wake up.

After a 20 minutes of searching I finally found a futon. I set it on the floor and brushed my teeth and changed in the bathroom. I laid on the futon, unable to sleep. I was tired a minute ago, but as soon as I laid on the futon, I couldn't sleep. I sighed and listened to Naruko's breathing. It was steady and stopped for a moment every so often because she talked in her sleep. I still wondered how one could be so loud from tossing and turning and talking in their sleep. I turned over and was about to fall asleep.

"Sasuke…" Naruko said softly. My eyes opened slightly. I don't know why, but I wanted to know what she was dreaming about.

"SASUKE!" Naruko yelled, bolting straight up in cold sweat. I sat up and looked at her. She panted a bit and paused to wipe sweat off of her brow. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed as she caught her breath.

"What?" I asked, annoyed. She turned to me, surprised I was there. I frowned.

"You said my name. What for?" I asked.

"Ahaha…what are you talking about?" she said nervously.

"Spit it out, dobe. Or are you still drunk?" I smirked.

"The Chuunin Exams…I think. We were in this forest and there was this guy that killed a bunch of shinobi and then he came to you and he attacked you. You tried to fight but you ended up slowly bleeding to death. Hinata was already dead and then I got this strange and horrible feeling. It was like I was burning and my head felt so painful and then everything turned red. The next thing I knew I had stabbed you and the man bit my neck and it hurt so much. I woke up after that," she explained guiltily.

"Are you an idiot?" I asked angrily.

"Huh?" she looked at me with confusion, and soon, anger.

"You'd believe a stupid dream? Why the hell would the future Hokage believe a nightmare like that? If you really believe that that will happen, then train harder so you know that won't happen," I said, frowning.

"Future Hokage…wait. You just acknowledged that I'm going to be Hokage! HA! You never believed me! I thought the day would never come when the proud Uchiha _Sasuke-kun_ would believe so-called _dobe!_" she laughed.

"Naruko…" I started, with a gleam in my eyes. She was pushed back against my pillows and was face-to-face with me as I towered over her body.

"Would you like to repeat that?" I whispered in her ear. She shivered and a blush highlighted her cheeks.

"S-sasuke," she whispered back.

"I'll take that as a no," I smirked and went back to my futon and went back to sleep. I heard her mumbling about what an idiot I was and teme-this and teme-that as I drifted off. Still, it worked. It being the fact I could now sleep now that she wasn't making a sound after she finished ranting.

I woke up and saw that Naruko was gone. I sighed and got dressed and brushed my teeth. I walked into the kitchen and saw her slurping a bowl of ramen. Next to her were three finished ones, stacked. I walked by the trash and saw all of my delicious tomatoes thrown out.

"Naruko! Why the hell did you throw out my tomatoes?!" I scowled.

"Huh? Those are edible? I thought you were growing some kind of mold or something," she said as she finished her fourth bowl.

"Why the hell would you think that?" I frowned. I looked at the clock and my eyes widened.

"Naruko. Training is in 10 minutes," I said as I searched the fridge for my extra stash of tomatoes. I smirked and I found them and ate them.

"Teme, I'm going to go back to my apartment to change," she said as she jumped out of the window. I sighed and ate a couple tomatoes and made my way to the Training Grounds after grabbing my kunai and shuriken holsters.

_Kakashi-sensei said he'd be here at 8am…I don't know why I put my faith in him,_ I thought.

"Kakashi-sensei is so late! It's already 10am!" Naruko complained. Hinata nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, a flurry of leaves appeared in front of us. It turned out to be Kakashi with a fake guilty look. Naruko glared.

"You're late!" Naruko yelled.

"Sorry, but an old lady was carrying a lot of groceries and she needed help getting home…"

"Liar!" she fumed.

"Well, enough about me. I thought it was about time for you all to learn some jutsus," Kakashi said.

"Really?! What kind! Are they gonna be super awesome destructive ones?!" Naruko's eyes had sparkles in them and she smiled like there was no tomorrow.

"In order for me to teach you, I need to find out what kind of chakra nature you all have. My affinity is lightning," Kakashi said.

"What kind of lightning jutsus do you know?" Naruko asked.

"I have an original jutsu called the Chidori," Kakashi said. He proceed to demonstrate. After a few seconds, lightning encased his hand and it sounded like hundreds of birds were chirping.

"SOOOO COOOL!" Naruko said. Kakashi let his chakra fade back into his body and continued his lecture.

"I have some special paper. This paper, once you channel chakra into it, it will react. Depending on the reaction, it will tell you your chakra affinity," Kakashi demonstrated with one between his fingers. It wrinkled.

"There are five types of chakra affinities. There is fire, wind, earth, lightning, and water. Fire affinities will cause the paper to ignite and turn to ash, wind will slice the paper in two, earth will turn to dirt and crumble, lightning will wrinkle, and water will make the paper wet. Some Jōnin have two or three chakra affinities," Kakashi went on. "So, all you three have to do is to channel your chakra into the paper," he handed us each a sheet.

After a few minutes, we managed to get results.

Hinata's paper was wet. Naruko's was sliced and one half was ash in her hands. My paper was crinkled and half ash.

"Hinata, it's ok. I'm sure you can develop a special technique based off of your…uhm…clan taijutsu…" Naruko smiled at her. She must've seen the slight disappointment on Hinata's face from being the only one with just one affinity.

"Or, you'll get another affinity later on," Kakashi eye-smiled.

"Kakashi-sensei! Why do teme and I have two affinities?" Naruko asked.

"Dobe," I remarked.

"Maybe genes or something else," Kakashi said.

"Well, they don't call me the Copy-Cat ninja for nothing. I know justus from each element except for wind," Kakashi made a handsign and two more Kakashi's appeared.

"Hinata, come with me," one Kakashi said.

"H-hai," she followed him to another part of the Training Grounds.

"Naruko," another Kakashi gestured. She followed.

I was left with the original Kakashi.

"Well, Sasuke. You're in luck. You can learn my jutsu that I demonstrated earlier. Then you can make all kinds of deviations from that to make it your own," Kakashi said. With that, he began to teach me the Chidori.

**Naruko POV**

"I'm so awesome! I have two chakra affinities! But that teme has two as well…" I grumbled. Kakashi stopped after we walked out of sight of the others.

"Naruko," Kakashi started with a serious look.

"Huh?" I was slightly surprised at his change of mood.

"There is a jutsu only you can master and surpass the Yondaime Hokage," Kakashi said.

"Really!? I can surpass my dad?!" I yelled excitedly. _Wait…I'm not supposed to tell anyone until I'm 16…_

Kakashi's eye widened.

"Naruko, after I teach you the basics, we're going to have a little chat, okay?" Kakashi said.

"Oh, uhm, yeah! Just teach me already!" I changed the subject as quickly as I could and honestly, I was excited.

"His original techinique was the Rasengan. It is a sphere of concentrated chakra in a hand. Despite the fact you don't need hand signs or need a certain chakra affinity, it is a very difficult technique to master," Kakashi said.

"Cool! Show me!" I yelled. He sighed and demonstrated it.

"So, so, so how do you do it?" I asked.

"Well, a friend heard that I decided to teach you so he gave me a few pointers to try out with you," Kakashi said as he pulled out a scroll and unsealed water balloons.

"Huh? How're water balloons gonna help me?" I frowned.

"Practice channeling your chakra into the balloon and make the water spin so fast that it explodes," Kakashi said.

I kept working at it for three hours, but I still had no luck.

"Naruko. Stop for a minute," Kakashi ordered. I scowled but complied.

"You're rotating it wrong. For you, it's supposed to be the other way," Kakashi explained.  
"Chakra…rotates? There's a right way and a wrong way?" I was totally confused.

"Well, everyone's chakra rotates left or right. Just rotate it the other way and you'll get it," Kakashi went back to his perverted book.

After 30 minutes, the balloon popped.

"Kakashi-sensei! LOOK!" I screamed.

"Here. Do 20 more and then you'll do another exercise," Kakashi threw a bag full of water balloons to me. I nerve popped out of my head but I kept going.

**Hinata POV**

I panted hard as I lay on my back. This water jutsu was only a C-Rank, but it wasn't as easy as Kakashi-sensei said it would be. It was Water Release: Gunshot.

"Hinata, don't push yourself," Kakashi said.

_No! I need to push myself so I can be just as good as Naruko-san! _

I nodded. I shakily stood and kept trying.

I made the handsigns and yelled, "Water Release: Gunshot!" Only a small amount of water came out of my mouth.

"Water Release: Gunshot!" I yelled once again. Still the same.

_20th try_

"Water Release…" I fell onto my knees and panted hard.

"Hinata, you need to work on expanding your chakra reserves. For now, take a break or you'll pass out from chakra exhaustion," Kakashi said, still reading his brightly colored book.

I took a half hour break. I stood up and tried again.

"Water Release: Gunshot!" _I'm going to get this jutsu in three days, even if it kills me!_

**A/N Yeah yeah, I know. Late update. I'll try to update sooner. XD**


	12. Tomorrow

**A/N Just putting another chapter between the Chuunin Exams. It's mostly Sasuke/Naruko fluff. Heh…**

_Three Weeks Later_

"It's been a very nice few weeks. I would—" Kakashi wasn't late for once.

"_Nice?!_" Naruko growled. "You trained us till we practically died!"

"That's what sensei's are for, and don't all of you have excellent collaboration jutsus to use together, Naruko-_chan_?" Kakashi said with an eye smile. I glared at him.

"Well, before our friend Naruko interrupted us, I wanted to say that I entered all of you into the Chūnin Exams. Here are your tickets. You're free to decline if you like," Kakashi handed us our tickets and disappeared.

"I'm surprised he wasn't late," Hinata said. She was slowly losing her stutter and becoming less hesitant.

"Hinata-chan! You didn't stutter! Wow!" Naruko gave her a huge grin. I scowled.  
"S-sasuke-s-san…i-is s-something the m-matter?" Hinata's eyes widened a bit.

I gave her a dirty look and walked away.

After a minute I felt someone following me. I went to the forest and waited for them to come.

"Hey!" a female voice called out.

I activated my three-tomoe sharingan.

"What?" I asked.

"Sasuke! What the hell do you have against Hinata?" Naruko came into view and quickly grabbed my collar and she had an angry look with her brilliant blue eyes shining.

"Naruko…" I was surprised I didn't see that she'd grab my shirt.

"Teme! I'm asking you a question! Why were you so mean to her?!" Naruko yelled

I smirked.

"What's so funny?" she looked at me critically.

"You," I closed the distance between our lips. Her eyes widened but I felt her cave and she kissed me back. I pushed her against a tree and kissed her passionately.

I broke the kiss and asked in a low voice, "Do you still want the answer?"

"I…" Naruko's cheeks were a deep red blush.

"Sasuke-kun!" I heard another female voice call out.

"Crap, it's Sakura," I mumbled as I dragged Naruko and we ran.

"_Sasuke-kun!_" Sakura chased us. I was surprised that she managed to keep up. It seems her sensei was doing a good job of training her and helping her get a super fine control over her chakra.

I sighed and activated my sharingan and stopped. She came up to me but before she could say anything, I put her under a relatively strong genjutsu. She collapsed on the grass and I pulled Naruko along.

"Sasuke."

"Hm?" I turned to her. We sat at the edge of a dock where I'd first seen her.

"Why did you kiss me? I'm sure you noticed Sakura's presence," Naruko stared at her reflection.

"Why not? They were going to find out anyway," I said.

"Well, what's your problem with Hinata?"

"…"

"C'mon! Tell me!" she looked at me straight in my eyes. "I have a secret. You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine, but promise not to kill anyone," she smiled a little.

"Fine. I guess I was…jealous…" I looked away.

"Hah? What do you mean, 'jealous'?" she frowned.

"You kept talking to her and giving her support and giving her that smile that I thought you reserved only for me…" I blushed a little.

"Sasuke," she said. I looked up, surprised she didn't call me 'teme'.

"What?"

I didn't get an answer. My answer was her giving me a quick kiss on my lips.

I smirked.

"What?" she pouted.

"You aren't as good as a kisser as you could be. Looks like I'll have to _help_ you," I gave her a somewhat scary smile. She inched away.

"Tell me what you promised to tell me then," I said.

"But Sasuke…" she whined.

"Now, or I'll have to use my sharingan to find out," I ordered.

"The others, they weren't kidding. They kept trying to ask me out and Kiba tried to make out with me…" she looked away.

"_What?!"_ I was livid. She is mine!

"See! Don't do anything! I can take care of it! I'm _your_ girlfriend, right? That means I can deal with them! Stop worrying! If I can't handle it, I'll let you! Okay?" she blinked as she noticed I had already vanished.

"I can't believe they had the nerve to try to ask out _Naruko_," I growled to myself as I raced to Kiba's house.

I saw Kiba walking home with his dog on his head.

"KIBA!" I screamed.

"Hah? Sasuke? What?" Kiba looked up with a mildly annoyed expression.

"I heard what you did! You should know she's with me!" I activated my sharingan.

"Ohhh, _Naruko," _Kiba smirked.

"Who else!?"

"Look, she's not good enough for an angry jerk like you. She's better off with me, someone who isn't dead set on killing someone," Kiba said.

I already had my Chidori chirping on my hand.

"Sasuke!" a familiar voice called out.

I looked up and saw Naruko and Kama standing there.

"You're that missing-nin!" Kiba yelled.

"Sasuke. Are you an idiot? Aren't you dead set on killing my Itachi? And would Naruko ever betray you, even though you're an ass?" Kama scowled.

Naruko walked over to me and hugged me.

"Naruko…"

"Sasuke, don't do this," Naruko whispered. "You know I love you. I wouldn't betray you for anything."

"Mhm," I closed my eyes.

"But, Sasuke. I'm never gonna give up," Kiba said.

"I'm not either," I said, glaring at him.

"Come on, teme. Let's go home," Naruko pulled my hand. I sighed and gave Kiba once last look. _I'm watching you._

**3****rd**** Person Perspective**

"I can't believe the Chūnin Exams are tomorrow. I remember when they were little," Asuma remarked.

"I didn't know you spied on them. I know Kakashi did," Kurenai took another bite of dango.

"…" Kakashi have no response.

"Stop being so unyouthful, Kakashi! All of us passed our students! I am glad my eternal rival did something so youthful as push along the next generation!" Gai yelled in the small dango shop.

"Asuma, how did you train Sakura? I feel like she's better at taijutsu judging from the way she walks now," Kakashi said.

"I suppose. I did try to train her, but she is a bit of a difficult student," Asuma laughed a little.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi narrowed his eye.

"She needs to train using weights to build her muscles and needs to let go of her infatuation for Sasuke," Asuma took a long drag.

"You guys know what I heard?" Kurenai's eyes glinted with amusement.

"Hm?" Asuma's eyes drifted to her.

"The cold Uchiha Sasuke has a girlfriend," she said, almost smirking.

"How youthful!" Gai yelled. This time, the other patrons glared at his loud outburst.

"Who?" Gai turned to Asuma.

"Uzumaki Naruko," Kurenai said.

"Is that so?" Kakashi said slowly.

"They're both your students, Kakashi," Asuma said.

"I didn't know they were an item," Kakashi said.

"You know, she'll prove to be an obstacle," a voice said.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Kakashi said.

He took a seat and had a serious look.

"When he goes to fulfill his goal of killing Itachi, he'll choose to go after him rather than stay with a lover," Jiraiya said.

"I remember his other goal being 'restore the Uchiha clan'," Kakashi said quietly.

"That could mean two things," Jiraiya countered.

"What do you mean?" Kurenai asked.

"One being to expand the clan with children. The other is to purify or to restore the clan's former glory or make the clan look the strongest," Jiraiya explained.

"Sasuke has a bond with someone. He wouldn't break it after losing so much," Kakashi said. He was furious.

"Sasuke is a boy filled with hate. A girl won't erase that hate, no matter how much he loves her," Jiraiya said.

"People just keep coming and coming, don't they," Jiraiya turned and saw Namikaze Kama standing there, looking angry.

"You know nothing, you piece of shit," Kama said dangerously.

"That's no way to talk to one of the Legendary Sannin," Jiraiya said.

"I don't care what you think. If Sasuke abandons the village, Naruko will be more than crushed. If her emotions are used, she'll only turn into a weapon," Kama glared.

"As if I'd let that happen," Kakashi said.

"These children are going to be more powerful than you in the future. Perhaps they already are more powerful than you," Kama mused.

"I won't let Sasuke become a nuke-nin," Jiraiya said.

"Better not. Or I'll make Konoha hell," Kama walked off.

"She's in a bad mood," Kurenai sighed. "I wonder what could've happened."

"…" Kakashi looked up and saw Naruko and Sasuke walking together, talking. Naruko was smiling and Sasuke had his usual smirk. They looked so happy and peaceful. _Sasuke…don't break her heart. You might lose her forever._

"You know anything, Kakashi?" Kurenai asked.

"Nope."

"Aah, I'd better be going. The Chūnin Exams are tomorrow. I have things to do," Kakashi said and walked off. _They're going to be fine. Hinata is fond of Naruko and all of them have excellent collaboration jutsus…_

Kakashi noticed the skies where getting dark and it was about to rain. Perfect time to be standing at the cenotaph.

**A/N I'm not done with Shingeki no Kyojin, but it's killing me! I'm at the part where Eren comes out of the Titan and has his arm and leg and I'm shipping Mikasa and Eren so hard. Sorry if anyone doesn't ship that. XDs**


	13. Chapter 13

I'm annoyed. Like, I suck at making sure there are no plot holes. Anyway, it's come to my attention that Naruko talks with Kama so easily. I do have an explanation for this: Kama is her only family that is still alive. Regardless of the reason of about why Kama is a S-Rank nuke-nin and why she never came to Naruko to defend her from the villagers, Naruko likes her. Why? Because Kama is one of the only people to be somewhat family-like to her. Naruko (and all of you) will find out why Kama did the things she did. (Come on, why would I put spoilers here? -..-

Naruko also wants to be nice to her sister. After all, it's the only family she's got. Plus, Kama is nice to her. Being Naruko, she's gonna return the favor. Naruko isn't the type of person to have someone be nice to her and then Naruko is going to be mean or cold in return. (That's Sasuke.)

Hope this helps. I hope this is the only plot hole I'm going to have. Also, I'm going to be working on some character development later on. It's getting to be a bit overdue, but oh well.

If you have any questions, review. PM. ANYTHING. Cause, come on, if you don't get it, you're not going to get the rest of the story. So do yourself and your fellow readers a favor and ask. I'm perfectly happy to do this! XD

-Kakashihasnicearms


	14. Curse Mark

**3****rd**** Person Perspective**

_First Exam_

…

_Second Exam_

"I'm Mitarashi Anko and I'm your proctor for the second exam! The exam you just took is so easy compared to what you're in for in my exam! Be prepared, maggots!" Anko yelled.

"Hey, Ibiki. You passed so many. Are they that good?" Anko whispered to Ibiki.

"That blonde girl has spirit. Knock it out of her," Ibiki smirked.

"Sure thing," Anko laughed.

"Maggots! Follow me to the Forest of Death!" Anko yelled.

"Here in the Forest of Death you don't have to hold back against your opponents! You have 5 days to get to the tower in the middle with both a heaven and earth scroll to pass to the third exam! But before you start killing, you must sign a release form!" Anko yelled.

"For what?!" Naruko yelled.

Anko threw a kunai at her and it sliced her cheek.

Naruko froze as Anko reappeared behind her. A Kusa ninja gave Anko her kunai back.

"Aren't you that girl who's dating that Uchiha?" Anko whispered and Naruko's face turned into a deep blush.

"NO!" Naruko yelled.

"Well, all of you form a line and sign these forms to receive your scroll!" Anko yelled as she moved to a tree.

* * *

_Inside the Forest of Death_

After a few minutes, Hinata voice her opinion about a way to tell if they were really them. Sasuke agreed and said a code to make sure they were really Team 7.

"Hinata-chan, teme, I'm going to find a bathroom," Naruko said and began to walk away. Sasuke nodded and began to set up traps around the area. Hinata kept her Byakugan activated to watch for enemies.

"I'm back!" Naruko grinned.

"Wait. What's the passcode?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Naruko gladly told him.

"Sasuke-san, Naruko—" Hinata started.

"You're not Naruko. The kunai Anko threw cut her cheek and Naruko is right handed," Sasuke yelled. "Who are you?"

"Ah, you noticed me. Now die!" the Ame-nin charged at them.

"Genjutsu!" Sasuke yelled as the Ame-nin looked into his eyes. He promptly crumpled to the ground.

"Sasuke-san, we have to find Naruko-san," Hinata looked around with her Byakugan.

"Do you see her?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes! About 100 feet from here, north!" Hinata began to run and Sasuke followed her.

"I see another shinobi fighting her. She's being pushed back," Hinata said. "What is this chakra coming from their battle!?" Hinata's eyes widened.

"What chakra? Is it from the shinobi's jutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"No…it's coming from Naruko!" Hinata said.

When Sasuke got to Naruko, he saw Naruko on the defensive with a kunai against a Kusa nin.

"Oh, what good timing, Uchiha Sasuke-kun," the woman said. She jumped back and Sasuke moved in front of Naruko with his Sharingan activated.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Sasuke whispered and a ball of flames headed for the Kusa nin.

"Naruko…" Sasuke started but suddenly stopped as he felt fear envelop his mind. _What….what is this?!_

Sasuke watched as the nights of the Uchiha Massacre replayed in his head again and again. Suddenly, he saw a new nightmare begin to unfold.

* * *

"Sasuke!" Naruko yelled. Behind her was Itachi, about to kill her.

"SASUKE!" Naruko screamed and Itachi stabbed her.

A voice called to him from behind him. He turned and saw Kama.

"How could you let my sister die?! You let her die! You let everyone in your clan die! This is your entire fault! Look at what you've done, Uchiha. You killed _her!_" Kama yelled and stabbed him.

Then, another nightmare began to unfold.

* * *

"Tou-chan! Tou-chan!" a small child ran up to Sasuke.

"Haruka, where's Kaa-chan?" Sasuke smiled as he picked up the small blue-eyed black-haired girl.

She looked at him and began to cry.

"He took her!" she cried.

"Who?" Sasuke frowned.

"I don't know!" she cried harder. After calling Naruko's name out, Sasuke found her.

"NARUKO!" Sasuke yelled.

"Sasuke, take Haruka and run! They're after me! Go!" Naruko yelled. She was bound in chains made of sealing script.

"I'm not leaving you here!" Sasuke yelled. Suddenly, Naruko's body was covered in red chakra and she collapsed once the red chakra dissipated.

"Otoutou, you're a failure. You'll never kill me because you don't have enough hatred!" Itachi smiled like a madman. "Now I can kill you like I didn't three years ago!" Itachi rushed at Sasuke but Haruka jumped and allowed herself to protect Sasuke.

"O…tou…chan…" she whispered and ended in the same fate as her mother, dead.

"HARUKA!" Sasuke yelled.

"You killed her!" another Sasuke told him. This Sasuke was different; he had grey hair and not sharingan eyes, but simply red eyes.

"I loved her and you killed her!" the other Sasuke told him.

"No! Itachi killed her!" Sasuke felt tears run down his cheeks.

"You let her die, filthy Uchiha!" other Sasuke said.

"I…I…didn't…!" Sasuke began to panic. _No…there's no way I killed her…I would willingly die for her…_

"Yes you did! If it wasn't for you, neither of your precious people would be dead!" other Sasuke said.

"I did…" Sasuke fell to his knees.

* * *

"Well, now that that's over, I can finally do what I wanted to do," the Kusa woman sighed. Hinata was in the same state as Sasuke, filled with fear.

The Kusa walked over to Naruko, who was glaring at her and threw some shuriken.

"Child, shuriken will not help you," the Kusa woman smiled. Suddenly, Naruko's eyes turned blood red with black slits in them.

"RAHHHHHHHH!" Naruko screamed and hit her with her new jutsu. "RASENSHURIKEN!"

The Kusa woman laughed a little and summoned a snake to ride and dodge the attack.

"That's the power I want!" the Kusa woman laughed. _I'm going to test her power more!_

The snake summon moved to charge at Sasuke and Hinata. Sasuke wanted to move, but he couldn't. _Move!_

"TEME!" Naruko yelled as she jumped in front of the snake and stopped it.

"What're you doing?! Move, dammit!" she yelled at Sasuke. Sasuke stared in awe. _She stopped the snake…to save me…_

"HEY!" Naruko yelled at Sasuke. She growled at getting no response and punched him.

"Snap out of it, teme!" Naruko yelled. Sasuke slowly moved his hand to reach for a kunai and promptly stabbed himself.

"Take Hinata and get out of here!" Naruko ordered.

"I'm not leaving you!" Sasuke activated his sharingan.

Naruko growled. "Then get Hinata out of her trance. We need her teamwork."

Sasuke nodded and turned to get Hinata. Naruko turned to the enemy and summoned more Kage Bunshin.

"Numbers won't help you either, girl," the Kusa nin smirked. Her snake disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The Kusa woman released a water style jutsu, causing Naruko's clones to disappear and Naruko was sent tumbling back and hit a tree. Naruko got up and glared. The Kusa woman disappeared and reappeared behind her. _Finally!_

A shadow came from the tree and kicked the Kusa woman away.

"It's been so long," the Kusa woman smiled despite being in pain from the harsh chakra-enhanced kick.

"I had a feeling someone as creepy as you would be here, Orochimaru!" Kama glared.

"Why're you here all of a sudden? What happened to that vow?" Orochimaru smiled.

"Shut up! You know nothing of anything I've been through and had to sacrifice!" Kama charged at Orochimaru.

"Kama-chan, I never thought you'd be the type to break a vow, especially on _their_ graves. And after leaving poor Naruko alone for 12 years with _nothing_. How did you manage to gather the courage to come here and face her?" he smirked.

"…" Kama weaved handseals and unleashed a powerful sealing jutsu. Orochimaru cringed as he felt her chakra winding through the air and wrapping itself around him, catching his body in a chakra net.

"Now die!" Kama yelled. Orochimaru laughed as he turned out to be a log.

"Substitution jutsu?" Kama hissed to herself. _Where is he now?_

Orochimaru smirked. Kama still hadn't figured it out yet.

He reappeared behind Naruko who was looking around for him, ready to strike. He weaved a few handsigns and dug his fangs into Naruko's neck while placing an odd numbered seal over Naruko's 8 trigram seal. She fell over and began to scream, holding her neck.

"Naruko!" Sasuke and Hinata ran over and watched in horror as their teammate's cries began to quiet down.

"Brats! Take Naruko and run!" Kama ordered as she weaved many handsigns.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and grabbed Naruko.

"You're not getting away, Uchiha!" Orochimaru laughed. He made his neck stretch so it reached Sasuke. Sasuke took a kunai and tried to stab Orochimaru. Hinata weaved handsigns for Water Release: Gunshot. She shot small balls of water from her mouth and Sasuke prepared to attack with a fire release jutsu. Orochimaru jumped into the ground using his earth-style affinity.

The log turned into Orochimaru. Kama turned and attacked him. _I don't know if that's a clone or not, but he's going to die!_

Orochimaru reappeared behind Hinata and released a lot of killer intent. Hinata froze and Sasuke jumped back and ran through more handsigns. His hand was engulfed in lightning and he set Naruko down. He glared with his hate-filled sharingan and charged at Orochimaru. Orochimaru released a wind-style technique and a fire-style technique simultaneously and a fiery wind engulfed Sasuke. He instinctively jumped back and covered Naruko's body with his own to protect her from the flames. Orochimaru took this as his perfect opportunity and went over to Sasuke and placed a Heaven seal of his neck. Sasuke screamed but didn't move from his position to protect Naruko.

Orochimaru glanced at Hinata, the heir to the Hyuuga clan with a Byakugan that could be used indefinitely. _This could also help kill off the Akatsuki if I play my cards right with this Hyuuga. Still, she's weak. Would she survive the Curse Mark?_ Orochimari shrugged and placed an Earth curse mark on Hinata. _You never can have too many pawns in your arsenal. Plus, you never know when she'll be useful. If neither of the two brats here survive the effects of the mark, she's a good candidate. _Hinata sharply inhaled and began to scream, but she promptly collapsed after a minute.

"Orochimaru! What did you do?!" Kama was livid. "DON'T TELL ME YOU KILLED HER!"Kama unleashed three sealing jutsus at once, followed by a fire-style jutsu that covers a large area and scorched the surrounding trees. But by then, Orochimaru had already reverse summoned himself and then reappeared further away in the forest.

Another shadow came out of the tree. The figure sighed and almost cringed.

Kama stood, shaking in anger. _Orochimaru…I'm going to kill him!_ Her eyes drifted to the figure and she almost screamed in anger.

"Hey! Where were you?! I needed your help killing him! But you just stayed in the tree, just watching with that sharingan of yours! I…I don't know why I liked you! You just left me to fight him and now look at them! They're going to die because of whatever that bastard did to them!" Kama was close to tears.

"Kama. I believed in your power. Plus, you just jumped in the battle recklessly. Also, they won't die. They're our siblings, after all. Have faith, Kama. And, don't stress yourself too much. It isn't good for either of you," Itachi scolded. He saw multiple emotions cross Kama's face and sighed inwardly. He smiled a little and hugged her.

"I-Itachi," she whispered.

"Come on, we've got to go," Itachi said.

"But…they're going to be left there and I can feel their bodies begin to develop fevers…" Kama said.

"You're such a good medic-nin. Don't you sense them coming? Sasuke and Naruko and Hinata are going to be fine," Itachi grabbed her and disappeared in the trees.

* * *

"Neji! You're going to fast! Wait up!" Tenten whined.

"No, Tenten! He's showing so much youth I think I'm going to faint!" Lee's eyes shined.

"I'm not waiting! Hinata-sama is in danger!" Neji argued.

"Hah? I thought you didn't like her?" Tenten asked.

"I understand some things now…thanks to Naruko," Neji frowned.

"_Naruko-san?!"_ Lee asked, now having another reason to speed up.

"What do you mean, thanks to Naruko?" Tenten asked.

"The other day, I was training and saw her and Hinata training. Hinata and her took a break and I overheard them talking about the Hyuuga clan. Eventually, they went home. I was curious about what an outsider would know about my clan, so I confronted her and told her to stay out of it. However, she convinced me that Hinata wasn't the only one hurting and that I shouldn't let my belief on fate and hatred cloud my mind. After that, I realized how cruel I'd been and I apologized to Hinata-sama for everything and offered to help train her Juuken. So, we're on good terms," Neji said. _If only Sasuke wasn't there. He isn't a good influence on Naruko, being filled with hate. Unlike him, I'm not filled with hate anymore. Perhaps Naruko will see this and be with me…_ Neji mused in his head. _But it looks like I'd have competition from Lee and Kiba and Sasuke._

"Neji, do you see them?" Lee asked.

"Yes! This way!" Neji jumped down from the trees to see Sasuke shakily getting up and pulling Naruko over his shoulder. He carried Hinata in his arms and took shaky steps to find a cave to rest in. He saw his world become hazy and distorted from his fever.

"Sasuke!" Neji called. Sasuke blankly looked up for a moment but then continued walking.

"We're here to help; we don't want your scroll," Neji said. Sasuke nodded gratefully before collapsing.

"I'll take Hinata-sama. Lee, take Sasuke. Tenten, take Naruko," Neji said. He activated his Byakugan to search for a cave. After running through the tree branches for 10 minutes, he found a small cave to put Team 7 in.

**A/N Wow…this chapter came out strange. And kinda messy for me. But, I hope you like it, even if it's a bit…everywhere. I'd bet there are a million plot holes in this chapter. XD sorry….**


	15. In the Shadows

_With Team 10_

"I wonder how Sasuke is doing," Ino smiled. Chouji and Shikamaru rolled their eyes and sighed.

"I bet he's already at the tower!" she grinned with a slight blush.

"Ino, we need to focus on getting another scroll so we can pass. This way, you'll be able to see that Sasuke jerk," Shikamaru chided himself for making their pace slower than it already was by inadvertently getting Ino angry. But it was his honest opinion. It would be too much work to say, "that nice Sasuke guy."

"What did you say, Shikamaru?!" Ino glared.

"Ah, look," Shikamaru said. "I can feel Team 7's chakra coming this way."  
"How about Sasuke-kun?! Is he alright?!" Ino shook him.

"Calm down. He's ok I think," Shikamaru lied. He could feel all three of Team 7's chakra dangerously low. Even Naruko's. _Who did they fight?!_

"Yay! Come on, let's go see Sasuke!" Ino jumped after them.

"Hey! Ino, wait!" Chouji and Shikamaru jumped after her.

* * *

_With Team Gai_

"Lee, go get water," Tenten ordered as she ripped the bottom of her shirt into strips to use as cloths to lower their fevers.

"Hai!" Lee said and sped off. Neji stared off into the distance with his Byakugan.

"What do you want?" Neji asked loudly into the forest. Rustling was his answer.

"I know you're there. Get out," Neji narrowed his eyes.

Sakura and Ino both jumped out of the bushes and upon noticing one another, they glared harshly.

"I'm here to see Sasuke," they both said. They glared harder.

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke and frowned.

"What did you do, Neji?" Sakura asked quietly.

"Nothing," Neji replied, cautious.

"LIAR!" both girls charged at him.

Neji sighed and dodged their attacks and used Juuken to block the chakra points in their arms and legs.

"Why would I do anything to them?" Neji frowned.

"How should I know what goes on in that stupid head of yours!" Ino snarled.

Neji went back to looking into the forest. After a few minutes, Lee came back.

"Tenten, how is Naruko?" Lee and Neji asked simultaneously. Neji fought down a blush and Lee glanced at Neji for a moment.

"Hey, Sakura! Don't run off like that!" a voice hollered. As if to second that, a dog barked.

"Shut it, Kiba!" Sakura yelled. Shino and Kiba appeared in the clearing.

_More and more keep coming…_Neji thought. Shikamaru and Chouji came a moment after. Chouji busied himself with chips and Shikamaru pulled Neji aside.

"What?" Neji asked.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about these exams. From the Academy, I knew Naruko had potential but she needed a lot of work. Sasuke was a prodigy at everything and Hinata got second place for the title of Rookie of the Year. From what I hear from Asuma-sensei, Kakashi-sensei worked them till they practically died in order to prepare them for this Exam. If they got beat, I doubt we'll stand a chance against whoever they fought," Shikamaru said.

"You want to team up?" Neji asked, mildly surprised.

"Yeah," Shikamaru said. "I also think that we should get Sakura's team to join as well."

Neji thought this over. They were all rookies, and as a result, would be targeted the most. Plus, enemy shinobi would also target them for glory of defeating a Konoha team on their home turf.

"Yeah. We've got a reconnaissance team, a fighting team, and a blocking team," Neji said. Let's do it." Shikamaru nodded and walked off to tell the other teams.

* * *

After some convincing, all the teams agreed.

"Who's our team leader?" Shino asked.

"It's troublesome, but I'll do it," Shikamaru scratched his cheek. "We'll have Neji, Shino, and Kiba to detect the presence of enemies. Having this many people grouped here will attract enemies. My team will focus on defending and Sakura, Lee, and Tenten will be the offensive group."

"A group of three ninja are approaching!" Neji said.

"So soon already, huh?" Shikamaru said to himself. Sakura took out a kunai, Lee out himself in a taijutsu stance, and Tenten grabbed multiple scrolls, ready to throw them.

"Hand over the Kyuubi and no one dies," a voice said eerily from the forest.

"What're you talking about?!" Sakura yelled.

"It looks like you weren't told…that's fine. You'll find out soon enough," the voice said as a figure stepped out of the shadows. Everyone's eye widened in shock.

_Who…who is this?!_

* * *

"Sensei!" a man was running through the halls of the Hokage tower. The Hokage looked up as the door slammed open.

"What?" Hiruzen glanced at his student for a moment.

"Naruko and the village is in danger!" a white-haired man said.

"Jiraiya, what're you talking about?" Hiruzen was mildly concerned.

"This'll take a few minutes to explain," Jiraiya said.

"Go on," Hiruzen put down his pen, ordered the ANBU in the shadows to leave with a flick of the wrist and gave his panicked student his undivided attention.

"All right…" Jiraiya started.

"Jiraiya, why didn't you tell me sooner?" Hiruzen massaged his temples. "Actually, no. Tell me later. Go to the Forest of Death and do what you can."

"Yes, sensei!" Jiraiya ran out. _Be okay, Naruko! Minato would never forgive me if I don't make it in time!_

**A/N Yeah, short, I know. I wanted a cliffhanger and I decided that this was a good place for it.**


	16. Disqualified

"Kama, let's go," Itachi held a hand behind her back as they hugged. She hummed and he couldn't discern if it was a 'yes' or 'no'. Still, it didn't matter. She was going, anyway.

"Was that a yes or no?" Itachi let go of her with his other arm as he stabbed her with a powerful liquid that makes a person sleep for three days. Kama's eyes widened in shock and stared into Itachi's black ones for answers.

"I'm sorry Kama, I have orders," Itachi said apologetically.

"But…why…you promised you…wouldn't…let that happen…" Kama whispered as her eyes widened and her eyes shone with tears.

"Mm," Itachi caught her as she calmed down, hoping that he hadn't broken that promise they'd made so many years ago. He reverse summoned her to a secret place once she was completely unconscious.

"Well, I've go to carry out my orders now…" Itachi said to himself. _But why did Leader want to carry out his plan so early? Ah, perhaps I'll never know…_

* * *

Itachi jumped through the trees to meet up with Deidara. He slipped on his Akatsuki coat as he walked up.

"Jeez, took you long enough. Why the hell do you take so long meeting up with me?" Deidara shot him a glare filled with killing intent as he whispered.

"I see two chakra signatures!" a voice from the other side of the trees called out. Itachi activated his sharingan and followed Deidara as he walked into the clearing.

"Well, looks like this is going to be a piece of cake!" Deidara laughed. "They're just weak genin!" Deidara slipped his hand into some clay and allowed his hand to knead it. He turned to Itachi and said something. Itachi walked back into the forest.

"I'm not going to let you get away!" Tenten yelled as she tossed her scrolls up in the air and kunai rained down. Itachi disappeared and reappeared right in front of her, making her stare into his sharingan. He cast a genjutsu on her and she crumpled to the ground.

"Tenten!" Lee yelled as he charged at Itachi. Lee avoided Itachi's eyes but Deidara moved so fast to kick Lee into a tree. Multiple leaves fell around him and Itachi jumped into the trees, to fulfill one part of his orders.

* * *

Jiraiya dodged as Kiri-nin charged at him. He decided that he should move faster to get to Naruko in time. He heard the frustrated voice of Kiri-nin behind him begin to grow softer.

He was suddenly punched back by something and flew into a tree. He looked up to see a Kusa-nin in front of him.

"Hm," Jiraiya frowned. _I know those eyes…Orochimaru…there's no mistaking the look of a power-hungry person in those eyes._

"You don't seem so surprised, though," the Kusa-nin smirked as her face began to peel, showing yellow eyes. "I don't know if that ruins the fun or makes my day easier." Jiraiya stood and summoned toads as Orochimaru followed suit with snakes. Jiraiya created a rasengan in his hand and told Gamabunta to charge at Orochimaru. As Jiraiya got closer, Orochimaru readied handsigns and whispered a water style jutsu that caused the ground to become saturated with so much water that Gamabunta slipped. Gamabunta got up and spewed out oil that Jiraiya used a fire style technique in combination with after making the rasengan dissipate. The oil ignited and it brightened the trees to a bright orange. Orochimaru's eyes widened as the fire came his way but he smirked and his flashed through handsigns and the water from the ground was pulled up and acted as a shield. Jiraiya grunted in annoyance but before he could ready handsigns, snakes came rushing at him. Hundreds of snakes opened their mouths to reveal poisonous fangs, ready to strike. Jiraiya went through another fire style jutsu and the snakes burned into ashes. Jiraiya took this opportunity to weave a genjutsu around Orochimaru, using about a third of his chakra to make it even possible for it to work. Jiraiya pulled out a scroll and released a wind-style jutsu that ripped off the leaves off of the trees. Then he went through a fire style jutsu that burned the leaves as they blew through the air. Orochimaru's summon disappeared in a poof. Gamabunta said he had important things to do on Mount Myouboku so he disappeared. Jiraiya let the smoke dissipate and he peered through it to see if the genjutsu had worked.

"Jiraiya, I'm awfully busy right now. We'll finish our fight later," Orochimaru called out and disappeared. Jiraiya cursed and raced over to where Naruko was. He was preparing for the worst, but he hadn't expected it to be so bleak…

* * *

"What's with these brats? How the hell did they become genin in the first place? They're so weak that I can't believe I wasted my clay on them," Deidara growled. Itachi leaned on a tree, having to use genjutsu on the green one to keep him from being a nuisance. The Hyuuga had been smart enough to avoid his sharingan as well, but he hadn't seen that Deidara had turned some of the clay to look like rocks and as a result Neji had stepped on one and he was blown back into the roots of a tree above the cave and was unconscious immediately. The Ino-Shika-Cho team was worn out from a previous fight and their chakra levels were low. Once the girl had been taken out, they fell apart. The pink-haired girl, dog-boy and the quiet bug-boy had tried as well, but were knocked unconscious from a series of powerful explosions. All around the two Akatsuki members, there were bloody genins. The only untouched ones were Team 7.

"Oi, Itachi. You set up the barrier, right?" Deidara glared.

"There is a person trying to break it down as we speak. Would you like to apprehend him?" Itachi asked, his red eyes glinting.

"No, we had orders to take the Kyuubi. And didn't leader say something about your brat brother?" Deidara smirked. Itachi looked at him with no emotion.

"He did say he wanted both of them," Itachi said.

Suddenly, two demonic chakras filled the air, causing Itachi to squint and Deidara to curse.

"Itachi…" two voices said with a hint of amusement. Itachi looked at the figures and saw his brother with a dark chakra swirling around him and Naruko had a red chakra around her. _Kama…_

* * *

**Hinata POV**

I didn't open my eyes when I came to. My mind was filled with searing pain coming from my neck. I reached up a hand and covered it. I shut my eyes tighter, willing the pain to stop. After a minute, it seemed to get less and less painful. _What happened…_

I opened my eyes cautiously and saw all of Konoha's teams in bloody states. I didn't want to activate my Byakugan, just in case they were dead. I looked around and saw Naruko and Sasuke's bodies become engulfed in a dark chakra. I looked at who they turned to and saw two people in dark cloaks. One with bright yellow hair and the other with hair as dark as Sasuke's. My thoughts were rushing through my head, wondering how this happened: my state, Sasuke's, Naruko's, our teammates, and who these two people were. I racked my brain of about who they were and then it hit me: nuke-nin. At least, one of them was. Uchiha Itachi. The one who killed Sasuke's clan. The one who is S-ranked and left the same night with a suspected accomplice: Namikaze Kama, daughter of the Yondaime. I tried to remember more facts from our textbooks in the Academy, but the events playing out right in front of me were too distracting.

"Today's the day I kill you, Itachi!" Sasuke yelled as his hand was suddenly engulfed in lightning.

"And where's Kama? I need to kill her too," Naruko said with a demonic hint in her voice.

_What's gotten into her?!_

"Naruko, I have an idea," Sasuke grinned with his three-tomoe sharingan.

"Shut up, teme. We've got to kill the guys in front of us first!" Naruko's eyes glinted red with black slits.

_What is this?!_

"Oi, Itachi. I'll take the Uchiha. You take the girl," the blonde guy said.

Itachi didn't respond as he approached Naruko and she looked straight into his eyes. She flinched and fell over.

Sasuke flinched as Naruko's body fell to the ground. He caught her and glared up at Itachi and the blonde guy.

"How dare you hurt her!" Sasuke snarled. I felt his killer intent rise 10 times more than what it was and black markings spread across his body. I shakily stood and very slowly walked over to Naruko and Sasuke. Sasuke charged at Itachi with his Chidori. Itachi dodged and moved to punch Sasuke's stomach. Sasuke was punched back several feet but landed on his feet.

"Is that all you've got?" Itachi asked.

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled. I watched in slight horror as Itachi fell prey to Sasuke's genjutsu.

"HAHA!" Sasuke yelled. Itachi suddenly blew out a fireball and Sasuke had just enough time to dodge it, narrowly. Sasuke grunted and threw kunai and shuriken at him. Itachi dodged as he threw kunai of his own, only these had exploding tags. Sasuke jumped upwards. Itachi reappeared behind him and kicked him so hard I honestly heard some of Sasuke's bones break.

"Deidara, the seal has just been broken," Itachi said as he jumped to him with dust swirling around him from kicking Sasuke so hard.

"Looks like we have to retreat for now," Deidara frowned. Itachi turned and went back to Sasuke. I peered through the dust and made out Sasuke's body, trying to get up. Itachi yanked his chin up and Sasuke flinched. _Genjutsu…a powerful one at that._

"WHO ARE YOU?!" a voice boomed as his chakra signature came closer and closer. Deidara frowned. Itachi turned to the figure.

"Hello, Jiraiya of the Sannin," Itachi said.

"Uchiha Itachi!" Jiraiya growled and charged at him.

"Deidara, now," Itachi said as they both disappeared in thin air.

I ran over to Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya-sama!" I yelled.

"A Hyuuga?" Jiraiya raised a brow. "And no seal. You're the heiress."

"Yes, but there are more pressing matters! All of Konoha's rookie teams have been taken out including my teammates, Naruko and Sasuke!" I said.

Jiraiya hand a hand motion and ANBU came out of nowhere. They picked up the three teams and Naruko and Sasuke. An ANBU handed Naruko to Jiraiya and he held her in his arms with a sad expression.

"Come on, let's go," Jiraiya said.

"What about the exam?" I asked.

"All four teams are disqualified. You can apply again later," Jiraiya and I jumped into the trees.

"What?! Why?" I asked.

"Well, multiple S-Rank nuke-nins came into contact with you and I had to stop a fight between all of you. Because of my interference, which I hope you know was necessary, you all are disqualified," Jiraiya said.

"Oh," I looked down as we rushed to Konoha hospital.

* * *

The nurses were rushing around getting beds ready for all 12 of us. A hand rested on my shoulder and I looked up.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"You okay, Hinata?" he looked at me with a critical eye.

"Yeah, I guess so," I mumbled.

"It looks like the Forest of Death had an impact on you," he eye-smiled.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you're not stuttering anymore. You've gotten a little more confident," he said.

"Kakashi-sensei, I appreciate the comment, but now is not the time to be flattering. Naruko and Sasuke had marks placed on their necks by someone called Orochimaru. I think he put one on me, too," I winced as I reached for my neck and ran a hand over it.

"Don't worry Hinata. They're going to be fine," Kakashi said. "I've got to go, so can you look after them for me?" I nodded and walked to their rooms while dragging an IV behind me. I was covered in bandages as I walked in. Naruko and Sasuke were still unconscious and I sat in a chair until I was told to go back to my room to sleep.

**A/N Good, bad? Too much? Meh, I hope it's understandable. But, I hope you enjoyed. Sorry I kinda rushed through the exams but I had fun writing it. See ya next chapter!**


	17. Apart

**Naruko POV**

"Sasuke!" I yelled. "Behind you!"

He turned a moment too late. I couldn't believe what was playing in front of me: his death. _Wait…why do I care so much?_ I looked at his bloody body and my hands shook. _Why do I care at all? _I began to scream. _He's just a stuck-up prick!_

"NO!" I yelled.

"Hah? What're you talking about, _Naruko?_" Naruko asked. She looked like me, but I could tell she was like...another conscious...or a doppelganger.

"I like him! It's the truth! I care about him!" I yelled at her.

"What? Isn't he the one who always lost to? The one who was the same as the rest of the villagers; left you to suffer with that awful look of pity in his cold eyes," the doppelganger said.

"No…it's not true! I'm not letting you in my head!" I said.

"But don't you see? I'm _you_," she said, cupping my chin.

"I love him! Nothing can change that!" I yelled.

"Well then, looks like we're going to have to go through it again," she sighed. "Why can't you understand he's just using you? Kama said that the sharingan can be used to control the Kyuubi. He's going to use you to kill Itachi. If Kama and Itachi are really together, then he's probably going to kill Kama as well. Along with their said 'child'."

* * *

It started again. Only, a little different.

"Kaa-san!" a boy yelled out. I lifted my head at the voice, somehow familiar. Maybe I knew this person?

"_Kaa-san!_" he yelled again. I got up from the table where I'd been sitting with a cup of matcha tea.

"What?" I rushed over, somehow I felt like I needed to be there as quickly as I could.

"Tou-chan is…he's…" I stepped into his room and saw Sasuke on the floor in a pool of blood.

"N-naruko…" he started. "I always…hated you…"

"Wha…what're you talking about?" I asked.

"You're so stupid…I can't believe I had an Uchiha heir with such filth. His Uchiha name is tainted with your _Uzumaki_ blood. And…and I used you to kill everyone in Kumogakure. Remember how good it felt to kill the Raikage? I'm so glad I was able to kill him. But now…I'm finally free. Free of being with you. It disgusts me how I put up with you and your terrible personality and ideals," he closed his eyes. "Now die," he said as he stabbed me with an exploding kunai.

"_why?"_ I whispered as I shoved the boy as far away as I could so he wouldn't die. I don't know why I gave my life up so easily for this boy…but he was somehow connected to me. _Wait…Sasuke said 'heir'. Does this mean…?_ My eyes widened as I saw the boy had my blue eyes. _A child…?_

* * *

A moment later, Naruko stood in front of me again. I hadn't realized I curled myself up in a ball.

"Don't you see now? He's going to use you! I'm trying to get you out of harm's way and yet you keep trying to save this bastard! What's wrong with you?! Kaa-san and tou-san are very disappointed!" she crossed her arms.

"He…hates…me?" my hands shook uncontrollably. "But then why was there a child?!" I yelled as tears ran down my face.

"He had two dreams! One was to revive his clan and the other was to kill Itachi," she said.

"Why would he choose a weak girl like me? I'm an Uzumaki… a dead clan," I mumbled as my shoulders shook with sobs.

"How should I know? Maybe for the Kyuubi?" she said.

"Yeah…you're right. He wants the Kyuubi to kill Itachi. And it was convenient that I was a female host so he could kill two birds with one stone," I sobbed harder.

"Finally!" she said, exasperated.

I shook and pulled my knees to my chest.

* * *

"_Naruko…_" a male voice called out.

"Huh?" I wiped my tears on my sleeve.

"Sasuke wouldn't do that. He would get his own power to achieve the things he believes he must do. Isn't his whole life an example of that?" a man asked me. I noticed he had the same blue eyes and blond hair.  
"How can you be so sure?! He's going to use every way possible to kill Itachi and no one can change that!" I yelled.

"You can," he smiled at me.

"What?" I mumbled.

"I believe you're capable of changing him. Look, he's turned slightly softer ever since he became your friend. And now, even though I oppose it, his _girlfriend_," he scowled and killer intent leaked out of him. "I think you can change his heart. You don't have to change his want to kill Itachi, but you can change him to not be tempted to use the Kyuubi to kill Itachi," he said. "Naruko, I believe in you. You can do it," he smiled. I smiled and I felt tears coming at the corners of my eyes as he hugged me and I was sent into the world of consciousness.

* * *

I opened my eyes and white filled my vision. I blinked and saw white ceiling, floors, walls, bedsheets, curtains, and everything except the flower on the table. I sat up and groaned at the pain in my arm. Moving my right arm was difficult, like my nerves were twitchy or something.

"Ugh, what happened…?" I looked myself over for any bandages. Huh, funny. Nothing really.

I heard the door open and close and a nurse walked in.

"Hello Uzumaki-san. How are you feeling?" she asked as she took a seat next to me.

"Oh, um, my arm is messed up…" I said.

"How so?" she jotted something down on her clipboard and looked back up.

"Well, it's really hard to move and it twitches," I said, showing her.

"It looks like you have some nerve damage in that area. Did you do anything that could've caused that, like any really powerful jutsu or something?" she wrote something down again.

"Ohh, yeah I did. My jutsu Kakashi-sensei helped me make, the rasenshuriken, it's like a shuriken of chakra. It's a close-range jutsu that I have to hit someone with," I said.

"This is serious. I'm going to get the doctor to see you. I'll be right back," she said and left.

* * *

"Naruko-san, I'm afraid you can't use this jutsu anymore. If you keep using it, it will eventually cause permanent damage and your arm will be useless," the doctor said.

"_What?!_" I yelled.

"I'm sorry, Naruko-san," he said and walked out.

"This…this isn't supposed to happen!" I yelled. I balled my fists and gritted my teeth. "I was supposed to get past the second phase of the exams! I was supposed to get into the finals and beat Sasuke once and for all! I was supposed to be Chuunin!" I screamed. A nurse came in and said something about calming down.

"_I'm not calming down, lady!" _I yelled at her.

"Naruko-san! Calm down or I'm going to have to administer you powerful sedatives!" she shouted.

"I hate you!" I yelled in frustration but quieted down anyway.

"I also came in here to tell you that you have a few visitors," she said.

"I don't want to see anyone," I pouted.

"Then that's just one more reason you should," she said and called for them to come in.

Lee, Neji, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, and an old guy came in.

"Naruko-san, are you feeling alright?!" Lee asked, holding my hand in his. My other arm was still twitchy so I couldn't swat him away well enough. I glanced at Sasuke and he glared but complied.

"Lee, don't touch her," Sasuke said dangerously.

"Sasuke-san, I understand that as her boyfriend you would be protective, but as her friend, I'm only showing concern," Lee retorted.

"Lee, leave her alone," Neji said from against the wall.

"Neji!" Lee's eyes widened. He sighed and to my relief, he let go.

Sasuke took the seat next to me and sighed.

"Well, are you alright?" he asked.

"…" I looked away. The images of his death came back. I cringed.

"Naruko?" Kakashi-sensei glanced up from his perverted book.

"I-I'm fine…" I lied. Sasuke saw right through it and glared at me. _He's doing that a lot lately…_

"Sasuke, exactly what happened in the Forest of Death? Why hasn't anyone told me anything?" I closed my eyes and leaned back.

"I don't know…" he said.

Neji decided to speak up, "Naruko, if you're not aware, in the Forest of Death, your whole team was attacked. We're not certain who it was, but you all received several injuries along with some strange…" he looked to Kakashi-sensei hesitantly.

"What?" I asked.

"Lee, Neji, I'm afraid I need to talk to them alone…" he said apologetically.

"It's fine, Kakashi-sensei," Neji said and the two of them walked out.

"Well?" I asked again.

"Naruko, Team 7 is disqualified," Kakashi started.

"W-what?! There's no way! Why?" I yelled.

"It's because of an interference. Also, you were given a curse mark by a nuke-nin," Kakashi said.

"Curse mark? What's that? And by who?" I asked.

"Similar to genjutsu, this mark allows the caster to gain control of the victim's abilities. A nuke-nin by the name of Orochimaru gave this to you," Kakashi said.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei, you're not going to tell her more? It's important to her as a teammate of Team 7," Sasuke said, irritated.

"Hm?" I turned to him.

"Hinata and I were also given a curse mark," Sasuke turned and showed his neck. My eyes widened.

"So, so, Kakashi-sensei, how do we get them off?!" I said, panicked. "Is Sasuke going to die?! Or Hinata?!"

"Naruko, we think that because of the Kyuubi, the curse mark was destroyed. Orochimaru's chakra is similar to a snake. Because you already have a tailed beast in you, the Kyuubi must've destroyed the snake-chakra from the curse mark," Kakashi said.

"What does that even mean…?" I sighed.

"It means that because of the Kyuubi, you no longer have a curse mark," he said, sweatdropping.

"Then what about Sasuke and Hinata?" I asked.

"Hinata's was removed by her family. They have a special jutsu to remove seals," Kakashi said. "As for Sasuke, Jiraiya-sama here will deal with his mark along with training you," Kakashi said.

"Aren't you that guy I saw before the Exams started that was peeping in the women's side of the bath house?" I glared.

"Oh, you mean for my research!" he smiled.

"You're a pervert!" I yelled, pointing at him.

"No, I'm a _super_ pervert! Hahahahaha!" he laughed.

"Anyway, how're you going to remove Sasuke's mark? Do you do fuuinjutsu or something?" I asked.

"Yeah! I'm so good that a long time ago, I taught the Yondaime Hokage all the fuuinjutsu he knew!" he boasted. I smiled a little but my eyes must've looked sad.

"Naruko?" Sasuke looked concerned.

"Oh, it's nothing…" I gave him my signature smile. He smirked.

"So, Jiraiya…" I started.

"Hm?"

"Can you teach me fuuinjutsu?" I asked.

He frowned and looked at me hard.

"Hmph. Fine, but don't be a slacker," he crossed his arms.

"I won't!" I smiled.

"Naruko, you should rest," Kakashi said. "We'll leave."

"I'm going to stay a little longer…" Sasuke said and waved them off. He took a seat and looked at me carefully.

"There's something different about you…what happened?" he narrowed his eyes.

"Sasuke, it's nothing! I'm fine!" I tried desperately to get him off my case.

"Liar," he leaned into my face, very closely. I heard his breath against my ear and I shivered.

"Tell me," he ordered.

"No…" I pleaded.

"Or would you like for me to use my sharingan?" he smirked.

"_No!" _I said it too fast and panicked. I knew he knew that that was my problem.

"Well then, what happened with a sharingan?" he knew and leaned back. I bit my lip and looked away.

"I know I didn't do anything and Kakashi-sensei wasn't in the Forest of Death so—" his eyes widened and the look on his face promised death.

"Naruko. What did Itachi do to you?!" he asked quietly. I could hear the pent up rage in his voice.

"Sasuke, please don't," I said.

"So he did! What was in the genjutsu?!" he yelled.

"I can't tell you…" I said.

"And why the hell not?!" he yelled.

"Because you'll leave Konoha and I'll be alone again! You'll just go to get your stupid revenge and leave all of us alone! I don't want the time we spent together to mean nothing!" I yelled, feeling tears run down my face. He sighed and wiped the tears from my face.

"I'm sorry, Naruko. I have to kill him. You know what he did," he said.

"But Kama said in the bath house…" I was grasping at anything to keep him at my side for just a little longer.

"What did she say?" he asked.

"Well…she said…" I started.

"What? Spit it out," he said.

"That she's a mother…" I cringed a little.

"So?" he scoffed.  
"Remember you found out that your brother was going to be a father?" I said.

"No way…" he said.

"Yeah…"

"That means that we're…" his mouth opened a little.

"I know, we're—" I said sorrowfully.

"_Meant to be together," _he said, blushing. He looked away. My eyes widened and I turned to look at him.

"Sasuke…" I smiled and felt tears coming. I laughed a little and he looked at me with concern.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," I smiled. He smirked for a moment until his face changed serious.

"You haven't told me what was in the genjutsu," he scowled.

"Fine. There was a lot of different scenes with your death. You always died. Always so bloody and I felt horror and anger. But most of all, I was sad. In one of the last ones, there was a little child. He called me 'Kaa-san' and he was panicked when he called me. I ran over but I didn't know why I ran over so fast, but I did. I couldn't help feeling scared for him. When I got to him, you…you…" I looked away.

"Me?" he narrowed his eyes.

"You were in a pool of blood, and threw exploding kunai at me. I shoved the boy out of the way and you kept talking about an 'heir' and how you couldn't believe that you put up with me and how I was filth because of my tainted Uzumaki blood and how disgusted you felt about having an heir with me and how you used me to destroy Kumogakure and then I saw the boy for a final time before I died. He had my blue eyes and your black hair…" I reached out and hugged him close to me.

"Naruko, I wouldn't ever kill you. I don't think the Uzumaki clan is tainted either. It's a clan famous for fuuinjutsu. I won't let you die either," he stroked my hair as I sobbed.

"Naruko, I've got to go…" he said and left. I reached out, hoping he'd come back and stay. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around my knees and put my head between my knees and stayed there for what felt like forever.

* * *

I lifted my head and saw it was night. I sniffed and jumped out the window. I had a feeling that I had to see Sasuke. I jumped across buildings and walked around the path that led out the village.

That's how I came across Sasuke. I stopped behind him and steeled myself.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"To Orochimaru. He has the power I need," he said.

"For what?" I asked, wanting the one I knew was the answer to not be.

"To kill Itachi," he said. _I knew it…_

"Sasuke, don't you see what will happen?" I asked.

"Yes. A villain will be killed. Just scum," he said coldly.

"But Kama's child will be fatherless! As her sister, I can't allow that!" I said.

"What do you know of siblings? She neglected you, and yet you stand up for her? What's the logic?" he asked. I was about to say something else, but he was right.

"Sasuke, don't go," I pleaded.

"I have to do this," he said.

"But what about us?!" I yelled. "I thought you'd never leave my side!"

"Naruko…" he said.

"I love you and if you don't go, I promise your life will be better than going after revenge…" I said. "And there's something I've been wanting to ask you."

"What?"

"What'll you do after your revenge? After you kill him, what's left?" I looked at him carefully.

"…" he turned to look at me.

"Naruko, I'm going. Nothing you do or say will stop me," he said. I felt my heart break and I panicked.

"But! Sasuke! I read that the Uchiha can control the Kyuubi! You…don't have to be alone. I'll come with you and help you achieve your revenge!"

"You're going to stay here in Konoha. There's that Jiraiya guy who's supposed to train you in fuuinjutsu, your clan's specialty. There's nothing left for me," he said simply.

"I don't understand why you want to leave so badly! What's wrong with staying here?!" I yelled.

"You'd understand if you had a family," he said.

"Sasuke…" I said.

"Sasuke, I thought I understood you better than anyone else. Because of the loneliness we shared. But I feel like that if you go, the bond we shared will be lost," I said.

"As I said, if you had a family, you would understand what I feel and why I'm going. But you don't. As for the bonds we shared, I have to set them aside if I want to achieve my goal. That's final. I'm going now," he said and walked away.

"_Sasuke!"_ I felt my heart shatter and my world felt dark and cold. "You can't…this isn't, shouldn't be happening! I…loved you!" I yelled as he stopped to listen to my words.

"I do too," he said. He disappeared and reappeared before me.

"I love you, Naruko," he said as he kissed me and knocked me out.

"Te….me…." I whispered as I fell. I felt his arms catch me and after that, I blacked out.

**A/N Yeah, roughly 3,000 words. I'm glad that I didn't post my first draft, otherwise it would be so OOC that you all would un-follow this story! XD Sorry if it's confusing. **

**But basically, Naruko is in her nightmare from Itachi's genjutsu, and most of it is Sasuke's death and her fear that Sasuke hates her and is only using her. Then Minato convinces her that she can convince him. She wakes up and is forced to tell Sasuke her nightmare genjutsu. Then Sasuke leaves, gets that 'invitation' from the Sound Four, then leaves. Naruko tries to convince him, but fails. **


	18. Forced Kiss

Naruko stayed in her apartment for a week. She didn't come out, not even for a peek at sunlight. Hinata, still recovering from the seal being removed, knocked on her door, but she didn't get a response. She knew Sasuke's leaving would take a toll on the blonde, but she didn't expect for Naruko to be so devastated. _Well, I suppose it's understandable, considering the fact they were best friends in the Academy and then grew stronger by sparring on the same team. They must've told each other everything, seeing that their pasts almost mirrored the other's. Still, it isn't like Naruko to give up so easily. Something must've snapped in her, not just Sasuke's leaving. Yeah, there's another factor playing in this…I've got to find out, for her sake._ Hinata slowly walked home.

* * *

**The Next Day**

"Kakashi-sensei, there's something wrong with Naruko," Hinata said.

"Hm? She'll be fine. Don't worry," Kakashi said as he stared at the cenotaph.

"Not to be intrusive, but why are you at this cenotaph?" Hinata asked.

"To pay my respects," he said. _In attempt they'll forgive me…_

Hinata thanked him and said goodbye and left.

* * *

"Neji-san!" Lee yelled. Neji looked up from his place at the BBQ table, where everyone excluding team 7 had been invited to, except Lee was late.

"What?" Neji asked.

"There's something wrong with Naruko!" Lee said.

"And?" Neji frowned.

"Well, she hasn't left her apartment for a week!" Lee said.

"Knowing Naruko, I'm sure she'll be fine. After all, she's the most upbeat and troublesome one out of all of us," Shikamaru said.

"Are you sure?!" Lee asked, getting uncomfortably close to the Nara.

"Yes," Shikamaru pushed him away.

"Well, I'm going to go to her apartment and not leave until she comes out!" Lee raced off.

Neji sighed. "Knowing Lee, he's actually going to stick to that promise. I'm going to talk him out of it, knowing that Naruko is going to kill him for being a stalker or creep or something," Neji said and left.

"Ne, Hinata-chan," Sakura started.

"Yes, Sakura-san?" Hinata was surprised she started a conversation with her.

"Those boys don't know a thing about a girl's feelings. I think we should go as well," Sakura stood and motioned for her to follow. Hinata nodded and walked after her.

* * *

"I'm amazing," Naruko grinned. _I'm going insane…_ Ramen cups were stacked neatly on the table in front of her and perfect dango laid on a plate in front of her. Nikuman (steamed meat buns) that were still hot were also on the table. Asian-style chicken noodle soup and karaage (fried chicken) also laid before her. She grinned. The recipes she'd somehow acquired in her apartment were worth the search. She'd cleaned every inch of her apartment and redone the traps and added a few more near the window.

One could say she did find a coping mechanism. Well, that would be true. After Sasuke's disappearance, she didn't cry, but simply lost bits of her sanity, or as some of her peers would say, "spirit". In reality, she wasn't going insane. She was simply changing. Her best friend was gone, but not dead. If she had the chance to try to get him back, she would. But right now, she wouldn't. Mainly because she didn't see a reason to. Why? Because he had chosen a path of revenge instead of being with her, where he'd live a peaceful life of restoring his clan. If he really wanted to achieve his other dream of restoring his clan, he'd come back for her. _If he remembers me…_

In real time, she'd honed her cooking skills, for no apparent reason. But, cooking was fun. Chopping up the cabbage and the look of a huge, orange, clean carrot was amazing. _When was I this into cooking?_ She shook her head and pushed away that thought.

"Itadakimasu!"she said and dug into the food.

* * *

"I think I liked making the soup the most. Making the stock was really easy and the noodles were nice and chewy," Naruko remarked in the shower. She squeezed out some shampoo and got her hair all sudsy. Having long hair meant that sometimes, a strand or two comes out, threaded around a finger or two. She looked at the strand, mildly intrigued. Her hair was blonde at a glance, but she'd never noticed that holding it up to the bathroom light made it have an almost reddish hue.

She washed out all the shampoo and turned off the shower. She grabbed a towel and wrapped herself in it. She stared in the mirror; taking in a good, long look at herself. She'd gotten pale from being shuttered in and her eyes looked…not as cheerful. She almost smiled and brushed her teeth.

* * *

This became her thing: cook until she felt tired, clean everything until it shined, shower, brush her teeth, and sleep. Hell, it could've been only 4pm and she slept. However, she'd decided to not buy another clock after she managed to fall out of bed, knock over the bedside table, and roll on the clock, destroying it. She didn't find out right away. She found out when she overslept and Sasuke had somehow let himself in her apartment and was shaking her awake. "_Naruko! Wake up, dobe!"_ he'd say. Still half-asleep by the time she stood and stretched, she walked straight into the wall.

She smiled as she drifted off to sleep. That memory, among all the ones she shared with Sasuke were treasures she had to bury deep within herself if she wanted to avoid the pain. She treasured them when doing certain things reminded her of a time when Sasuke had been with her, in the past, but now, she had to tuck them away to make sure they wouldn't come back and stab her in her heart. If she wallowed in those memories, she knew for sure she'd either leave the village, pleading Sasuke to come home, or become a ninja who couldn't focus on a mission. She'd be removed from the ninja ranks and forced to work as a civilian or something. If worse came to worse, she'd be forced to work in the red light district.

"I won't let that happen," she grinned a little and scrubbed the pot she'd been scrubbing for two hours...

* * *

"Lee, she's made it clear she doesn't want any visitors," Neji chided. Secretly, he was happy he had an excuse to be this close to Naruko's apartment, but he'd _never_ admit it.

"But Neji! I'm just as strong as Sasuke and just as handsome and I'm not a person who's filled with hatred. Sasuke didn't deserve her. He should've stayed in his dark bubble to not hurt anyone. And because he didn't, he ended up hurting Naruko the most," Lee said.

"Lee…" Neji was surprised he'd say that.

Naruko was listening on the other side of the door. In her free time, she practiced concealing her chakra until it wasn't detectable, not even by a skilled jounin. She frowned. Lee was awfully obsessed with her and too proud about himself. He also didn't understand a thing about her or Sasuke. All Lee saw in Sasuke was just a cold, but talented, prodigy. Sasuke only made himself seem like that to protect himself from forming bonds he might lose in the future. If Lee understood what it meant and how difficult it is for Sasuke to open his heart and let in someone as bright (and energetic) as her in his dark world, he wouldn't be saying such things. Naruko sighed inwardly. Still, she had to give him credit for being so worried. But, he just put his faith in the fact that she wasn't a helpless kunoichi and believed she was okay, then she wouldn't be so annoyed.

It was bothersome to listen to Lee say things like that. She got up and picked up a book. She looked at the cover and was confused. She'd never bought this book and never one that didn't have a title. She sat down and turned to the first page. In it, was a slip of paper. She grabbed it and set it aside and flipped through the book. It was empty.

"What?" she said and set the book down and read the paper. Her hands shook and she began to laugh. It was a laugh that was sort of sad, but still held some amusement.

"Now they tell me?" she snickered. She got up and changed into dark clothes. She listened for Lee or Neij's voice and didn't hear it. She hesitantly opened the door and was glad it was night. She looked down and saw Lee's sleeping form on the ground. She stepped over his arm but he suddenly moved and she tripped, landing on her back. Lee, at the same time, also had tried to get up, but Naruko tripped over his arm. He caught himself, stabilizing himself by having his hands on the ground, and noticed that Naruko lay under his body. His hands were inches from her head and their faces were close.

"Lee-kun?" Naruko's eyes were wide.

"I…" Lee couldn't help the fact that he was getting closer to her. For some reason, he couldn't stop until their lips touched. Lee was overwhelmed with surprise and happiness at kissing her that his tongue had slipped itself into her mouth. Before he knew it, her hands were pinned under his and his body was on hers, keeping her from moving away. Her eyes were tightly shut and she struggled to get away.

_Sasuke! _was all she could think. She didn't want Lee to kiss her; she'd only ever accepted Sasuke to kiss her. _Get him away from me!_ She felt tears come out of the corners of her eyes, knowing that this time, Sasuke wasn't here to chase them off. All she had was herself and Sasuke wasn't here. _Sasuke isn't here…_ she thought.

After a minute, Lee broke the kiss and Naruko disappeared, running off. Lee cursed under his breath, hating himself for forcing a kiss on Naruko, but he hated himself more for liking it so much when she didn't. Still, he decided to not think about anything else except for the fact that her lips were soft and that she almost looked cute like that, being unable to reject him. He cursed again, knowing that it was wrong to force her like that. But he couldn't deny that it was the best, and first, kiss he'd had.

* * *

In Orochimaru's hideout, Sasuke lay in his new bed, wondering if he'd made the right decision, wondering if Naruko would still wait for him once he killed Itachi, and wondered if she was okay. Then, for a moment, his killer intent spiked and he knew something had happened. And it wasn't good either. Naruko…he hoped she was alright. He thought about her for a moment, but decided it was for the best, to forget about her until Itachi died.

"Naruko, will you wait?" Sasuke said aloud. _I hope you will._

"Sasuke-kun, I'm ready to train you," Orochimaru said after opening his door.

"Hn," Sasuke said and got up. He followed Orochimaru and Orochimaru began to spar with him.

* * *

**Three Days Later**

"Didn't you say you wanted me to train you?" Jiraiya huffed.

"Yeah. You're not backing out, are you?" Naruko asked from the table where she was working on embroidery.

"Then why aren't you ready to leave?" he frowned. He looked at the kimono she was working on and raised an eyebrow.

"You'd also be an excellent infiltration kunoichi, with all that cooking and sewing," Jiraiya remarked as he sat down and took a bun from the table. They were still steaming hot.

"So, when are you going to start training me?" Naruko asked.

"When everything from the Chuunin Exams quiets down, maybe a month or something," Jiraiya said with his mouth full. Naruko almost reprimanded him, but she chose not to. After all, he didn't _have_ to teach her. Naruko finished off and put her needle down.

"I'm going swimming," Naruko said and walked into her room to get changed.

"I'll come too!" Jiraiya said. Naruko sighed. _What a perv…_

After a few minutes, Naruko got changed into a bikini, which she covered with a dress. She tied her hair up so that it was in one ponytail and had a towel in her arms.

"Let's go," she said simply. Jiraiya took the rest of the buns and walked with her.

* * *

"So I hear you're a master at seals," Naruko said. Jiraiya nodded.

"And? What about it?" Jiraiya bit into another bun.

"Do you think I'll be good at seals?" Naruko asked._ Fuuinjutsu is in my blood. Do you know that?_

"Yeah, sure. The Uzumaki are famous seal masters," Jiraiya said. Naruko nodded and took off her dress and slipped into the lake. Jiraiya almost died. Her skin was flawless and beautifully pale and she wasn't flat either.

"Should I learn medical ninjutsu as well, Ero Sennin?" Naruko smirked.

"What does that mean!?" Jiraiya scowled.

"It means that at the rate you're bleeding at, you might actually bleed to death. But if you believe I'll be perfectly fine with just learning one thing, then I suggest you stop staring at me," Naruko crossed her arms, covering her chest.

"Shut up, brat," Jiraiya muttered as she began to swim laps. He eyed the last bun, but decided she'd be tired and hungry after swimming. She was swimming rather quickly. She did all of the swimming styles, but she excelled at freestyle.

"Naruko, why did you suddenly decide to go swimming then pester me about seals? What do you want?" Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. However, he couldn't narrow them for long because she came out of the lake, dripping wet.

"Towel, please," she said. He stared at her. "Towel," she said again. He was in a daze. She sighed and grabbed the towel herself. She wrapped it around herself tightly, but that did little to get him back to reality.

"Hey, Jiraiya," she said.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. My question," he said.

"Well, I wanted to know why you accepted me so easily as your apprentice. I mean, you're famous. I bet hundreds of kids like me have asked and you turned most of them down. Then there's me. I'd never met you before, and when I asked out of the blue, you agreed. Did you promise something to someone? Or are you doing this because you enjoy staring at me?" she grabbed the last bun and munched.

"Well, that's complicated. I'll tell you later, but why swimming?" Jiraiya asked, secretly regretting not eating the last bun.

She shrugged. "If you want more buns, come tomorrow," she said. He grunted, not wanting to admit that those were damn good.

**A/N **Naruko got kissed by Lee! And what did Naruko read and find on the paper?! Find out in the next chapter! See ya next chapter! :)


	19. Drifting

_I never said when, so sorry. I went out…food shopping and such. I'll be back later, and don't go snooping through my apartment. I will know, no matter how meticulously you put back my things. _

_-Naruko_

Jiraiya growled as he read her note she'd left on the table. The kimono was actually a hakama. He could tell from the way she was stitching. _How the hell did she learn this so quickly? _It was a deep blue, almost black. If he didn't look closely, it seemed like black. On the front were abstract stitching of red and white. He raised an eyebrow and was thoroughly confused. Why was the stitching so pretty everywhere else but then on the front there was an oblong shape marring it? He sighed. He was beginning to think she was empty behind that relatively cheerful face and good cooking and pretty stitches. At this thought, he grew sad. Minato would never want this for her. If he were here, he'd do everything to get her spirits up. No matter what it took.

* * *

Naruko walked through the house again. She sat in the chair where her mother or father would've sat to calm their crying baby. She lightly pushed back and forth the rocking chair and it creaked softly. A small sad smile graced her lips and tears came again to roll down her cheeks. She got up and looked around for jutsu scrolls or something. She didn't care that Jiraiya would be fuming. She knew he loved her steamed buns, so he'd be okay after she fed him.

A light green book caught her eye and she picked it up and flipped through it. In it were pictures of her parents as children and then as teens and then as adults, their wedding, then her mother with a swollen belly. Another picture of a woman she didn't know was posing with her mother and they looked awfully friendly. One of the last pictures was of Jiraiya and her parents. She smiled. So Jiraiya did know about her parents. He just didn't want to tell her. She went to the kitchen and found a recipe book. Most of it was handwritten and the handwriting, both of them, were so skilled that she couldn't tell whose was whose.

She walked through the rest of the mansion, looking for her parents' room. After much searching, she found it. On the bed was a kimono and a hakama. The kimono was orange with an Uzumaki swirl on the back and on the cuffs and the hakama was a light blue with the kanji for 'yondaime hokage' stitched into it. After snooping around some more, she found unfinished stitching. She smirked. Now she knew why she managed to pick up on stitching so easily. She looked through her mother's things and found a hairpiece that had the Uchiha crest on it. She was confused. Why would her mother have an something with an Uchiha insignia. She put it in her pocket and looked through her father's things and found a ton of three-pronged kunai. They were like, everywhere, now that she thought about it. She looked around for a scroll on it and ended looking for two hours. Finally, she found one. It was awfully detailed, so that was good.

* * *

Naruko decided to go food shopping anyway. She picked up more cabbage, green onion, sesame oil, soy sauce, nira, flour, garlic, ginger, rice, silken tofu, and some other things. She paid the cashier and left. She sensed Jiraiya's chakra in her apartment and knocked with her foot. After a moment, he opened the door and almost scowled. Then he saw she actually went food shopping, so he didn't complain.

"Take one," she said. He took one of the bags and she carried the other, kicking the door closed.

"Wait, how did it take you 3 hours to go food shopping?" Jiraiya frowned as he watched her put away all of the food. "Did you go on a date while I wasn't looking? You should know I'm supposed to watch out for you," he said.

"Date, huh? I haven't had one in…hm…a month," she said. "Well, the real reason might surprise you. I know why I'm good at stitching and why you agreed to apprentice me so easily now. I know who my parents are," she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He visibly stiffened.

"Well, considering the circumstances, looks like I really have to train you," he ran a hair through his white hair.

"So you were going to back out," I concluded, chopping up the vegetables.

"Hmph," he looked away.

"Knew it," I snickered.

* * *

"Lee, what's wrong? Is there something wrong with your _**youth**_?" Gai asked his student.

"Um, well, I…" Lee blushed and looked away.

Gai gasped. "WE MUST TRAIN NOW TO GET YOUR YOUTH BACK TO NORMAL!" Fire shone in his eyes.

"Sensei, it's not like that…" Lee balled his fists.

"Well, what's wrong?" Gai sat next to him on the grass near the cenotaph.

"It's…Naruko-san…" Lee said.

"Oh? Well, if it makes you feel better, I won't tell anyone what you're about to tell me. And, her mother was also a real beauty, so I don't blame ya!" Gai smiled. Little did they know that Kakashi was in the trees, reading his book and listening to them.

"Well what happened?" Gai frowned.

"Well, when she finally came out of her apartment, she tripped over me as I got up and I ended up…" Lee blushed harder.

"What?!" Gai was thoroughly intrigued.

"Kissing her," Lee said.

"That's great! You finally have a girlfriend! Looks like I'm throwing you a party! I'm going to get everything set up and tell everyone, so just wait here!" Gai went off.

"Wait…" Lee said too late, for be was already gone. Lee beat his fists against his knees and cried out in frustration. _Why did that have to happen!?_

"Lee…" Kakashi jumped out of the tree and put his book away. Lee's eyes widened.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Lee said, trying to keep his fear down. _Is he going to tell me something important, is that why he put away his book? He never does that unless it's really important. Or is he going to yell at me for kissing Naruko? Wait, did he hear? I hope he didn't! Please Kami say he didn't!_

"Naruko has changed, hasn't she?" Kakashi narrowed his eye. Lee cringed and nodded.

"Why do you think that is, Lee?" Kakashi asked. _I'm going to kill this kid if he does anything else to Naruko. Minato-sensei would kill him for sure._

"Well, um, Sasuke's disappearance must've taken a toll on her, seeing that they were together…" Lee knew it was over. He had heard. And there is no way in hell that he could outrun or outsmart this jounin.

"Naruko seems to have something weighing on her mind. Perhaps something happened to her that you might know?" Kakashi said.

"Well, you see…" Lee sighed. "It was an accident! I didn't mean to!"

"But I could easily tell you had feelings for her. And on more than one occasion you wished Sasuke was out of the picture so you could have her to yourself," Kakashi growled.

"I was just…." Lee whispered.

"Oh, and tell me exactly what happened in detail please. I wasn't able to get much of an idea of what she had to go through because of your jealously, which happens to make less sense than Sasuke's revenge," Kakashi said. His anger was so strong that it was palpable. "How about we go to my apartment to talk? We have many eavesdroppers here, you know."

"What?! Who?!" Lee asked, terrified that now everyone knew.

"Come out, there's no hiding now," Kakashi said.

Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, Neji, and Sakura came out of the bushes and trees.

"I'm going to kill you for getting to first base before I did!" Kiba yelled. Sakura glared at him. Lee was mortified.

"Kakashi-sensei, let's go," Lee said. He nodded and they went to his apartment.

* * *

"But, how did you find out?" Jiraiya asked.

"A birdie told me," she said, wrapping the dough around the filling for the buns. Jiraiya's mouth watered. It was only roughly half an hour now until he could eat the buns.

"Don't you think your mother's stitching was amazing?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah. My dad has a bunch of these three-pronged kunai everywhere and I found a scroll on how to use them. It's apparently called the 'Hiraishin'," Naruko said.

"You'll have to wait like, three years to learn that. That is his signature technique. You've already mastered his original jutsu, the Rasengan, from what I hear. And, applied chakra nature to it. What is your chakra nature?"

"It's wind."

"Huh, that's rare. Do you know any—" Jiraiya was cut off by Gai busting through the window. Naruko stepped a foot back and waited for the traps to activate. After three seconds, the ninja wire twisted itself around him and kunai almost nailed his head.

"Looks like I'm going to have to adjust that," Naruko remarked about the kunai narrowly missing him.

"Here she is! I can see why he fell for you! You're so pretty just like your mother was! There's a party celebrating Lee's girlfriend! And you're invited! I mean, you have to go, but yeah!" Gai said.

"Girlfriend?" Naruko raised an eyebrow.

"You, of course! I heard all about that kiss you two shared!" Gai said. Naruko paled and in a flash, a kunai was in her hand, and her eyes turned blood red with black slits.

"You can tell that ass to back off and never come near me again. I hated that kiss and just so you know, he forced me. I was pinned down and his disgusting tongue was in my mouth and I couldn't get away," she growled. Killer intent leaked out of her in waves. Gai flinched.

"Now leave!" she said, cutting the ninja wire and pushing him out of the window.

"Jiraiya, please place a boundary seal there," Naruko said. "If you do, I'll let you have the whole batch~" Naruko smiled.

"Fine..." Jiraiya grunted. He got up and started to prepare the seal.

* * *

"So, I decided to stay in front of her apartment to wait for her to come out. Neji came too, saying how he came so Naruko wouldn't kill me for being a stalker or something. Then I must've passed out. I woke up to her stepping over me. I moved to get up, but she tripped and landed on her back and when she tripped, I fell over and I found that she was under me. I couldn't help the fact I was moving closer to her and then I found myself kissing her. The next thing I knew, I had pinned her hands under mine and my tongue…" Lee cringed.

"Go on," Kakashi was livid. He couldn't believe Gai's student would do something like this. He couldn't believe that Naruko had to endure _that_.

"Was in her mouth. Then I broke the kiss and she ran off somewhere," Lee covered his eyes with his hands and willed the tears to stop. But they didn't.

"Where?" Kakashi was scowling and killer intent leaked out of him in waves. Lee was frozen in place and couldn't say a word.

"Some fancy house with seals and stuff over it…I tried to follow her and get in, but I couldn't. Only she could," Lee frowned. "Why is that? What's so special about the house next to the Uchiha compound?"

"Show me where this house is," Kakashi ordered. He was still unspeakably angry. If this kid was a nuke-nin from another village and the same thing happened to Naruko, he'd kill him. But seeing that Lee was a loyal Konoha shinobi, he couldn't kill him.

* * *

"I have to go out…for some errands," Naruko smiled and ran out. Jiraiya shrugged and helped himself to more steamed buns.

"Yeah, I'll prepare something to teach you…" Jiraiya mumbled.

Naruko went out and walked to the house. This house was so special, not only because the Yondaime Hokage lived here. It was special because it was the first nice thing she didn't have to buy, it was hers by inheritance. At least, that's what the note in the book said.

Flashback

Naruko read the note that was in the book.

_Naruko, because you are of legal age, a ninja, you are permitted to inherit all of your parent's belongings. If you wish, you may stay in your own apartment. If you have any problems, you may contact me directly or speak to Hatake Kakashi._

_Sandaime Hokage_

End Flashback

Naruko smiled at the house as she got closer, but noticed two familiar chakra signatures. She recognized both of them and quickly walked past the barrier so neither of them could get in.

"Naruko! Wait!" Kakashi yelled after her. Naruko passed over the boundary in time but Kakashi somehow managed to pass over it as well. Naruko panicked and took out the three-pronged kunai from her pocket and it almost stabbed Kakashi, but he managed to knock it out of her hands and grab her tightly.

"Let me go! I've got things to do!" she yelled.

"Those things can wait! I want to know something," Kakashi said.

"Huh?" Naruko didn't let her guard down but she calmed down. She glared at Lee, who looked away.

"Are you okay? Did Lee hurt you?" Kakashi asked, kneeling to be level with her and held her shoulders firmly.

"What?" Naruko was confused.

"Did Lee hurt you?" he asked again.

"He forced a kiss on me and by the looks of things, he already told you everything, so that's why you're here. To follow me," Naruko concluded.

"But did he hurt you?!" Kakashi asked again. His tone of voice made it seem like he wasn't asking again or Lee was going to be pummeled.

"No, not really. But, Kakashi-sensei, why are you concerned for me all of a sudden? Is it because I know who my parents are? Wait, do you know them?" Naruko's eyes had a glimmer of their former sparkle, but after a moment, they returned back to their present dull and sad.

Kakashi eye-smiled. "I'm glad you're okay."

"And why is Lee here?" Naruko asked bitterly.

"To show me where you ran off to," Kakashi lowered his voice. "And if he does anything to you ever again, don't hesitate to tell me." Naruko nodded.

"Well, Lee. You can leave. Now," Kakashi said seriously. Lee nodded vigorously from the other side of the boundary and ran off.

"I did know your parents. Your father was my sensei. And his sensei was Jiraiya. And his was the Sandaime. Do you know who taught the Sandaime?" Kakashi asked as they walked in the house.

"The Shodai Hokage and Nidaime Hokage, right?" Naruko asked.

"Ah, looks like you've picked up studying as well. That'll make reading the scrolls easier here. The teachings of the Hokages have been passed down and kept in a secret place in this house. Minato-sensei showed me it once," Kakashi said.

"Why are you telling me all this so easily now? When I'd become a genin, you could've easily told me. Why wait?" Naruko frowned.

"Well, it was dangerous. Knowing meant that you could be in danger. We couldn't risk that, also because of your status as jinchuuriki," Kakashi said.

"Well, let's see this library I couldn't find, shall we?" Naruko smiled. Kakashi was glad that a smile graced her lips, even though it wasn't the same. Perhaps it wouldn't ever be after losing Sasuke.

* * *

In Orochimaru's hideout, Sasuke was summoned by Orochimaru.

"What, Orochimaru?" Sasuke had his usual passive face.

"In a year, I have a special mission for you. It's a reconnaissance mission," Orochimaru smiled.

"What preparations do I have to make in a year?" Sasuke asked.

"Everything I've taught you about reconnaissance and everything else. This is a rather high-level mission but if you don't complete it, that's okay. It's just practice for the real one two years after that. Of course, I'm going to send you on more reconnaissance missions between the one in a year and two years after that. You're my best subject so I want you to be in top shape, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru grinned.

"Is that all?" Sasuke asked, irritated.

"Yes, you can go back to your room," Orochimaru said. Sasuke got up and left.

**A/N What could this mission be? And what will Naruko find in the library?! See ya next chapter!**


	20. Gaara, Sasuke, and Lee

**One Month Later**

"Jiraiya, look!" Naruko yelled.

"Great, Naruko. Now, try it with the water actually moving," Jiraiya said as he walked over and splashed in the water, but kept on the water's surface. Naruko carefully molded her chakra to make sure she didn't fall in, but she did anyway. Naruko stood and walked to the rocky edge.

"Naruko, your clothes are all wet. Why not leave them here to dry and then go back to training?" Jiraiya asked.

"Why, that's a great idea!" Naruko threw a shoe at him. "If I was an idiot! Stop with your stupid pereverted thoughts, Jiraiya!" Jiraiya blushed slightly and grinned at the thought of Naruko stripping down to underwear and a bra.

"Stop thinking about that!" Naruko growled and threw the other one at him. This time he didn't dodge it and it hit him square in the face.

"Hey!" Jiraiya yelled indignantly.

Naruko stuck her tongue out and threw her jacket off and went back to the water.

After much practice, she was able to walk on water even if there were waves.

"How about performing a jutsu while on the water?" Jiraiya asked.

"Actually, I think perfecting one thing is good enough for today. Let's go watch the Chuunin Exams, shall we?" Naruko grabbed her jacket and slipped her shoes on.

"Yeah, you might learn something. Your taijutsu sucks," Jiraiya commented as they walked.

"That's why you get the lucky job of teaching me! I'm sure it'll be fun!" Naruko smiled as a nerve popped out. Jiraiya glared but didn't deny it. Now that she knew who her parents were, he couldn't leave her.

* * *

"Should we really go?" Neji asked.

"Yeah! It's free food because I hear Gai-sensei is paying!" Chouji nodded.

"Shikamaru?" Neji turned to him.

"It's bothersome, but I'll go with Chouji. Where are the girls?" Shikamaru asked.

"I think they said something about making Naruko go because she apparently refused. Or was it spying on Lee to find out who he was dating? Mah, it was probably both," Neji sighed and leaned against a tree. Shikamaru laid on the grass staring at the clouds and listened to Chouji munch on chips.

"Heeeeeeeeyyyy!" a familiar voice yelled. Neji turned his head.

"Are you guys going to the party?!" Kiba asked.

"Yeah. All the girls are going, if Sakura and Ino convince Naruko to go," Neji said.

"It's the perfect time to hit on Naruko!" Kiba grinned. Akamaru on his head barked in agreement.

"Anyway, today is the final round of the Chuunin Exams. Seeing that we're disqualified because of nuke-nin appearances, I think we should go watch, if only to gain more techniques," Neji said and walked to the arena. The other three boys followed.

* * *

Naruko watched with mild interest until a Suna genin came into the arena against an Ame-nin.

"Jiraiya, who is that?" Naruko asked.

"That's the son of the Yondaime Kazekage, Gaara," Jiraiya said.

Naruko watched him with interest. He seemed a little cold, but if she could bring some light into his world, he'd be a great person. He was a little cute too. _Huh? Why am I thinking this? I shouldn't be thinking about things like this…_

"Naruko-san!" Hinata yelled.

"Naruko-chan!" Sakura and Ino yelled.

"Huh? What?" Naruko didn't look up; she continued to stare at the red-haired boy.

"You _have _to come to the party! Everyone is going and you're the only one we haven't heard a yes from! Please~" Sakura and Ino pleaded.

"Naruko-san, even I'm going. I've never gone to things like this so I think it would be nice to have another person who hasn't been to things like this to be there," Hinata said. Naruko frowned. _Did Sakura and Ino make her say that? Hinata isn't one to come out and reveal her feelings like this. Well, I suppose it won't hurt if I go…_

"Yeah, I'll go," Naruko said. The pink and blonde haired girls high-fived and went back to their seats. Hinata said goodbye and went with them.

"What party?" Jiraiya asked.

"I'd like to know as well, Naruko," Kakashi said from the steps.

"I don't know. I'll find out when I get there," Naruko said simply. She wasn't paying attention to them. This Suna boy had her whole attention. He glanced up at her for a moment and she blushed. Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder and she almost flinched.

"How is the stitching going?" Kakashi eye-smiled.

"Y-yeah. It's fine," she said.

"That's good," Kakashi said and watched the match next to her, leaning on the railing.

* * *

In a matter of a few brutal and bloody minutes, the Ame-nin was dead. There was something about the way the boy fought that got her blood rushing. She could feel his bloodlust somehow and couldn't help feeling similar with this boy. Perhaps they had something in common than being the children of village leaders? She shook this thought off. There was no way they had anything in common. But still…that look in his eyes. Her eyes mirrored his. The loneliness. It was so clear in his blue/green eyes. And…there was something else. Hate? Fear? She couldn't tell.

Suddenly, feathers fell from the sky.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruko yelled and released the genjutsu.

Naruko turned and began to fight off an Oto-nin. She easily stabbed him and he collapsed. Gai kicked another shinobi through a wall and a large hole was created. Out of the hole, she saw the red-haired boy and two other people. At an impulse, she ran. Kakashi grabbed her arm.

"Where are you going?" Kakashi asked harshly. She shook him off.

"I'm going after them!" she said.

"Wait! Take Shino and Sakura with you!" Kakashi said. Naruko nodded. She woke them up and they began to chase after the Suna-nin.

* * *

One of the Suna-nin stopped and engaged Shino in battle. He yelled for them to continue and they went on.

The girl from Suna tried to fan Naruko away, but she dodged and threw kunai at her. Little did she know that all of the kunai she threw were clones with kunai. In a flash, Naruko threw shuriken and kunai and her and managed to get past her defense and stab her, dragging the blade as far as she could before she was punched away. Sakura engaged her in battle and Naruko went off to get the red-haired Suna-nin.

"Hey!" Naruko yelled as she landed on a tree branch.

"Are you here to fight me?" Gaara grinned as his face began to transform into a…creature.

"…" Naruko pulled out a kunai.

"Then let's begin!" Gaara yelled.

* * *

With bloody foreheads, Naruko shakily stood and walked over to him. He was pinned to a tree with kunai.

_Why…is she so strong?_ Gaara made face. _My existence will not disappear! It won't! I won't let it disappear! _

In a way, Naruko saw herself in him. She was surrounded by people who hated her, didn't care about anything that happened to her, or just ignored her. The words of children and their parents of '_I told you not to talk to him!' _hurt her inside. She wanted to make them all go away, but she knew that wouldn't help her.

In Gaara's mind, the same thing happened. The memories of people telling him he was a monster and how he should die and to go away flooded back to him.

"Don't get near me!" Gaara yelled.

"The pain of being alone…" Naruko said. "Is completely unbelievable, right?"

She looked up at him with beautifully sparkling eyes.

"I don't know why, but I understand your feelings so well it hurts. But…I have people who are important to me now. I won't let you hurt any of my important people. If you do, I'll kill you if I have to!"

"Why…why can you do this for strangers?!"

"My loneliness, that hell…they saved me from that and acknowledged that I existed. They're important to me, that's why."

Gaara was reminded of words his uncle had said and realized that love could be why Naruko was so strong. In a moment, Sakura, Temari, and Kankurou came. The three Suna-nin took Gaara and jumped into the trees. Sakura picked Naruko up and reassured her that Shino was alive.

With his brother supporting his weakened body, Gaara thought about this strange girl. _Uzumaki Naruko, eh? _Gaara smiled and wondered what this strange feeling of warmth he felt. When he thought of her, he felt happy, unlike anything he'd ever felt. _Is this love? _Gaara thought so. _To make this moment brighter, perhaps…perhaps if I think of the future, I can become Kazekage and unite these two villages with her…_ Gaara sighed and closed his eyes. _Yes, I will become Kazekage for her. I will become just as strong and we'll be together._

* * *

In the hospital with a bandage over her head, Naruko thought about the fight she had with Gaara. _What was that thing? It looked like a tanuki._

"Well, I'm glad I was able to make the loneliness and hate in his heart go away," Naruko smiled. A doctor walked in and said that she could be released as soon as she would like because most of her minor injuries were already or mostly healed. She nodded and ran out. She had some cooking to do after all.

* * *

"Jiraiya!" she called out as she walked in the door. "I'm home…" No one was here. She sighed and went to make more buns. She noticed that she didn't have any in the fridge or on the table.

"But…I made some and Jiraiya took a few before I went to practice water walking…he didn't take all of them. Then…who did?" Naruko whirled around and looked around her apartment. In the shadows was a figure.

"Who's there?" Naruko narrowed her eyes. She fingered the three-pronged kunai she kept in her pocket nowadays.

"Naruko-san…" a voice said.

"Lee?" Naruko growled.

"Yeah…" Lee stepped out of the shadows.

"What do you want?" Naruko gripped the handle.

"I wanted to…" Lee paused. "Apologize."

"I don't want to hear it," Naruko said coldly.

"But…" Lee started.

"Go bother some other girl," Naruko turned to start the dough.

"No, I have to make you hear me out," Lee said stubbornly. Naruko turned around.

"Look, Lee. I've made it clear I don't want to—" Naruko was cut off by Lee suddenly appearing so close…again.

"W-what?" Naruko asked.

Lee moved his hand so fast that she didn't have the time to react to stop him from knocking her out.

* * *

Kakashi looked at the Sandaime's dead body. He couldn't believe that the Hokage had died against his student. _It proves that the Sannin are truly powerful…I wonder if Naruko knows the funeral is later…I'll go tell her._

* * *

Naruko opened her eyes slowly, taking in the sight of her room. In her vision, a green blob marred the usual sights of her room.

"Naruko-san, are you okay?" Lee asked. Naruko's eyes shot open and she tried to sit up, but she found she couldn't.

"What is this?!" Naruko demanded.

"Well, you wouldn't listen to me, so I had to make sure you would," Lee said. Naruko was tied to her bed with rope and ninja wire.

"Lee, untie me! I'm not going to listen to you!" Naruko yelled.

"You have to listen to me!" Lee insisted.

"I don't want to!" Naruko yelled. _Sasuke…why did you leave? Gaara is becoming a more prominent figure in my mind and I can't understand why you'd leave me. Do you want me to wait for you? If you do, then I'll wait forever…unless Gaara takes my heart before you come._

"You have to!"

"_I don't want to! I don't need to! I…I'm busy! I can't listen to you because Sasuke isn't here!" _Naruko yelled. She could feel a burning sensation all over her skin and a dark chakra enter her veins. She began to scream and she broke her restraints. She could feel the dark chakra coming to the surface and she felt her mind fill with thoughts of destruction and hate. _Is this…the Kyuubi?_

Kakashi felt the spike in chakra and he rushed faster. In a moment, he was breaking through her window and dodging the extra traps.

"Naruko!" Kakashi yelled in panic. "Lee! What the hell did you do?!" Kakashi demanded. His killer intent spiked tenfold and Lee trembled. He couldn't say a word and all he did was feel tears run down his cheeks. Kakashi hugged her tightly and reassured her that she was okay. Naruko's screams began to quiet down and she ran away. Kakashi ran after her. Lee collapsed and panted hard. Kakashi really meant to kill him.

"Naruko! Wait! Tell me what happened!" Kakashi said as she passed over the boundary and Kakashi followed. Eventually, he caught up and grabbed her shoulders.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked.

"I…I came home and noticed that all the buns were eaten. I realized someone was in my apartment and it turned out to be Lee. I tried to convince him I didn't want to hear his apology and explanation, but he knocked me out and I woke up to being tied to my bed and I panicked and then I felt strange chakra combine with my own. I think…it was the Kyuubi's. I need something to take my mind off of everything, Kakashi-sensei. Can't you teach me jutsu or something?" she asked.

"Yeah. I promised sensei I'd protect you, so I'd do anything to make sure you're safe and happy," he said, eye-smiling. "I know it's too early, but how about trying to learn the Hiraishin?" her eyes widened and she closed her eyes and nodded. _Maybe my learning the Hiraishin, I can bring Sasuke home and with him, nothing will go wrong. But Gaara…I don't know what do to. These two boys are warring in me and I don't know who will win… I suppose I'm going to have to go after Sasuke myself soon. Sasuke, please wait._

**A/N Gaara and Naruko?! Sasuke and Naruko?! Which to choose? And what about Lee? Don't be a silent reader, so review! **


	21. Reconnaissance

After much deciding, the Hokage was declared to be Danzo. Although there was an uproar against him, they were quieted by his words of protecting Konoha by sending out teams to kill Orochimaru and promising everything the Sandaime was hesitant to do: lower taxes, strengthen bonds (drastically) with allied nations, increase border patrol, increase income for civilians, and allow for citizens to not pay for hospital visits if they don't make enough yen per year…among other things. He promised so much; his reputation was almost forgotten by many of the shinobi. Many believed him, hesitantly. To this, he responded that if he was found an unsatisfactory Hokage in a year, he could be replaced with someone else. Many on the jounin council hesitantly agreed. The few that refused were Hatake Kakashi. But because of the many that agreed for him to be Hokage, his vote was void.

An ANBU arrived at Naruko's apartment a day later.

"Hokage-sama has summoned you immediately," Boar said. Naruko nodded and walked out, locking her door.

* * *

At the Hokage tower, she knocked quietly and was ordered in.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" Naruko asked.

"I'll get straight to the point. I intend to train you personally to become Konoha's top shinobi," Danzo looked her in the eye.

"W-why, Hokage-sama?" Naruko flinched.

"You are to return here tomorrow at 7am. Do not be late or you _will_ regret it. Dismissed," he said.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," she walked out and back to her apartment. She unlocked the door and walked in.

* * *

"So, what was that about?" Jiraiya asked with his mouth full of fresh bread and fresh strawberry jam.

"I've been taken under the tutelage of Hokage-sama," Naruko said.

"WHAT?!" Jiraiya yelled.

"I know…I don't want to learn from him, but perhaps I can get some training from you and Kakashi-sensei when I have free time," Naruko said.

"I don't want you to be his disciple. He's always seen the Kyuubi as a weapon for war. If he gets control of the Kyuubi, then he'll wage war on every nation making Konoha a battlefield," Jiraiya said grimly.

"I see…" Naruko said. Her heart that day got a little colder.

* * *

"I see you're not late, unlike that brat Kakashi," Danzo remarked.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Naruko said.

"Well, then. Follow me and we'll start your training," Danzo said.

For the next few weeks, she trained against Root ANBU, improving all her skills drastically. He contemplated putting a seal on her to prevent her from revealing information about him, but he decided against it, seeing that it may prove to mess with the seal containing the Kyuubi.

The next day, she was summoned to fight against Danzo. Both of them fought with fierce wind style techniques, but in her free time, she'd been learning fuuinjutsu. Although she wasn't an expert, she managed to cast a jutsu that made the floor he touched hold him in place. Throwing a kunai at him, he dodged it and she engaged him in a kunai battle. Kept occupied with the fight with her, and then multiple shadow clones, he didn't notice the kunai turning into a clone with a rasengan. The clone flipped backwards and fell towards him. He bent over and allowed the clone to hit one of its own. However, she managed to hit him with the rasengan. She stopped just a moment before impact and undid the seal and knelt before him.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," Naruko said.

"Looks like you're ready to learn the next phase of your training," he said.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Naruko said.

"This is a book about reconnaissance. Read it and read it well. Then, I'll assign you a mission. Do not fail it. If you do, I'll forbid you to talk to Kakashi or Jiraiya," he warned.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," she bowed deeply and went back to her apartment with her book.

That night, she read it three times. She reviewed chapter after chapter, making sure she'd gotten all of the facts and theories correct. After that, she slept and waited for her mission.

* * *

"Hokage-sama, I have finished the book you have assigned to me," Naruko said.

"Good. Here is your mission. It is a B-Rank reconnaissance mission in the Land of Waves. We have intel that a tycoon named 'Gato' is ruining their economy. Find out every single detail about the Land of Waves and Gato. If you can, you must take him down," he said.

"Will there be anyone else going with me, Hokage-sama?" Naruko asked.

"Yes, seeing that you're still a genin nearly 13," Danzo growled, annoyed.

"Who is that, Hokage-sama?"

"A boy from an allied nation. He's here to assist to strengthen our bond with Suna. Get along with him. Come in," Danzo said.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," a male voice said. A mop of red hair walked in and Naruko's heart was tempted to skip a beat, but she decided against it. She'd have plenty of time to see him on the mission.

"What is the timeframe of the mission, Hokage-sama?" Naruko asked.

"A week," he said. "Dismissed."

Gaara and Naruko met at the gate ten minutes after they'd been briefed on their mission.

* * *

"It's—" Gaara started.

"Let's go," Naruko said and jumped into the trees.

After an hour of jumping on tree branches, Gaara spoke up.

"Is there something wrong? Did something happen?" Gaara asked with concern on his face. Naruko was reminded of the concern Sasuke had shown her.

"I suppose," Naruko said.

"What happened?" Gaara asked worriedly.

"I am learning to become a reconnaissance-expert ninja. It's hard work, but it'll pay off," she said.

"I feel like there's something different about you. What happened to the girl that changed my heart of killing to being bright like your smile was?"

"I suppose," Naruko wanted to say _Hokage-sama sees me as just a weapon to sharpen to destroy all the other nations. I can't do anything or he'll kill me or extract the Kyuubi and then I die. It's a lose-lose situation and he has been gaining supporters. I don't know what do to other than follow orders._

"Naruko?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

* * *

Near night, they set up camp. Gaara gathered wood for fire and lit it and Naruko sent out clones to catch fish from the nearby river.

Silence filled their dinner and Gaara didn't like way she was so cold. How could someone so bright become so dark and cold over a month? Surely the Hokage hadn't done anything to her, right?

"Naruko," Gaara stared at his fish.

"Yes?" Naruko continued to nibble at hers.

_Now's my chance! _Gaara took her by surprise and closed the distance between them and kissed her. Her lidded eyes shone in the fire and Gaara smiled a little at her.

"Do you feel a little less cold? I've noticed that you're awfully different from a month ago. Has the training been that harsh?" Gaara asked. Naruko couldn't speak. She felt that the kiss wasn't right, but her heart wanted to believe it was. Her heart wanted to put faith in him and forget about Sasuke, but a part of her, still bright, wanted to believe that Sasuke remembered her. _Sasuke…_

"Naruko? You're starting to worry me," he said.

"I…" Naruko shook her head and handed him her fish. She couldn't finish it. She couldn't because…maybe she wanted to savor that kiss? No, that couldn't be right. Never…

"Oh, thanks," Gaara smiled and munched. After dinner, Naruko decided to take first watch.

"Yeah. See you in three hours," he said and 'slept' on a blanket.

* * *

"I don't know. I'm slowly losing my ability to see what's right and wrong…I think it's because of my training with Hokage-sama. He's having an influence on me and I have to stop unless I become a cold killing machine. I'm either going to have to leave the village and become a nuke-nin or oppose him and risk losing my life," Naruko pondered aloud. "I wonder what Sasuke would've done in my position. Hah, that's too easy: nuke-nin. What about Kakashi-sensei? Maybe he'd just follow orders. What about…Mom or Dad?" Naruko smiled a little, fondly remembering her parents.

**_Naruko, don't cry. I'll protect you, like I always do! _**Naruko inhaled sharply. It was a resurfaced memory she didn't know she had. _Who…was that? _

Naruko leaned on the tree branch. She sent out her chakra in waves, trying to sense any foreign chakra. It hit Gaara first, and she stopped after it did. She felt something very ominous coming from him. She glanced at him and noticed his breathing wasn't level enough to be sleeping.

"You're not asleep, are you?" Naruko narrowed her eyes.

"No," Gaara said.

"Why is that? Are you trying to be sleep deprived? It's bad for your health, you know," she chided.

"I know. There's nothing I can do about it though," he said, laying on his back.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I can't sleep or I'll die."

"Is this some crazy jutsu someone put on you when you were little?"

"In a way, yes."

"What does that even mean?"

"I know what you are. But it seems like you weren't told. Well, I'm the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi. If I sleep, he'll break out of his seal and kill me," he said.

"Isn't the Ichibi the weakest out of all of the bijuu?"

"Yeah…" Gaara glanced at her.

"Which explains why you're so strong," Gaara said.

"That's not it. I don't use the Kyuubi's chakra. I use my own strength and skills," Naruko said. _That and I'm the child of two powerful people._

"I see," Gaara stood and stretched. Naruko jumped down and stoked the fire, adding more wood.

"My turn," Gaara said. Naruko nodded and slept on the blanket.

Gaara smiled fondly at her and secretly envied her ability to sleep. Perhaps one day, he could sleep.

* * *

"Naruko, wake up," Gaara said. Naruko opened her eyes and blinked.

"Morning," Naruko said.

"No, it's a couple hours before dawn. I thought that if we got into the Land of Waves early we might encounter fewer enemies."

"Yeah, let's pack up and go," Naruko said.

Gaara nodded and packed up everything while Naruko took down the traps and stored everything using a sealing technique on a scroll she put in her pocket along with the kunai.

"Ready?" Naruko turned to him.

"Yeah."

Naruko stepped on the water with ease and took a few steps before looking back at Gaara. He looked hesitant.

"You don't know how to walk on water?"

"No," Gaara smiled.

"Fine. There's no other way and we need to get back to Konoha as soon as possible," Naruko sighed. "Get on my back."

"What?!" Gaara blushed slightly.

"What's wrong with that?" Naruko asked.

"N-nothing," Gaara said. In his mind, he was embarrassed but happy at the same time.

Gaara jumped on her back and she began to run across the water. A rower carrying another group of ninja that Naruko noted as Konoha headbands rowed by. She clicked her tongue. She didn't sense in the shadows was a familiar figure. In this person's mind, he debated approaching her or not. _I'll do it under the guise of a henge. I need to kill that red-haired boy as well._

"Naruko, you're awfully fast," Gaara noted. "And, I haven't noticed before, but why are you wearing all black clothes with an Uchiha crest? What happened to your orange ones?"

"O-oh," this question caught her off guard. She had it in her apartment as a gift, and she'd packed it unknowingly. _Dammit._

"Come on, let's find this Gato guy," Naruko said. She sent out her chakra in waves again and turned sharply towards a building that was about twice her height. _Who is watching us?_

After a moment, they didn't move.

"Come on out, stop hiding. I know you're there," Naruko ordered. Gaara looked at her in surprise.

"Don't tell me you didn't notice."

"…" Gaara looked away. She sighed. A figure jumped down to reveal a girl about ten in tattered clothes.

"Do you h-have any spare c-change?" she whispered.

Naruko looked at the girl. She dug in her pocket and handed enough to feed her for a month.

"Thank you miss!" she smiled and ran away.

"That…was a lot of money. Why?" Gaara frowned.

"Gives me advantages here. The girl will brag and people will come. I will get information out of them, no matter what or by any means. Then we'll find Gato if we don't find him today, which I doubt," Naruko said. She walked in the direction of a mansion and sensed many people, but only two with large chakra reserves. She stopped a few hundred feet short and henged into a very busty woman with clothes that barely covered anything. She walked to the entrance.

* * *

"I…I'm looking for Gato," she blushed on purpose as she looked over the muscular men's chests.

They looked at each other and nodded.

"Right his way, miss," they said. She thanked them and started to flirt with them. They kept staring at her and she playfully said for them to stop.

"I'm sorry, but I'm here for Gato," she said. She walked into Gato's office and walked up to him slowly, letting him take in her whole body. She stripped and he was speechless.

"I'll give you five million ryo if you marry me!" Gato said.

"Sure, sweetie," she smiled.

He ordered a wedding to be held tonight and he led her to his bedroom.

"Hey, Gato. There's been something I've been wanting to ask you," she said.

"Ask as many question as you like!" Gato said.

"I want to know everything about the Land of Waves, I mean, if I'm going to be living here. Then I want to know _everything_ about you~" she hugged him tightly.

He told her everything about the Land of Waves and about himself.

"So, that's it!" Gato said. Naruko smiled and had an arm draped around his shoulders. Little did he know that she had a kunai at the back of his neck. In an instant, his blood was spilled and he was dead.

"Mission, success," she said and henged back.

* * *

Next Naruko decided to take out all of his mercenaries. She killed all of them, leaving two left. These were the two that had large chakra reserves.

"I know you're only fighting for money, Momochi Zabuza," she said. "Gato told me the combination to his safe, where he kept all his money. You can have it," Naruko said.

"You're getting famous, Uzumaki Naruko," he said, smirking under his bandages.

"Oh?" Naruko smirked.

"A genius orphan being taught by the war-hawk Hokage. With those blue eyes and blonde hair, it's obvious whose child you are," he laughed.

"I'm not after you, Zabuza. I know I'm no match for you," she said, twirling a kunai around her finger.

"It's 9-7-3-1," Naruko said and walked away.

"Yeah, just like that Yellow Flash," he remarked as she got out of earshot.

* * *

"I'm done," Naruko said to Gaara as he waited outside.

"You're covered in blood!"

"Yeah, I am," Naruko said. "I'm tired. I think we should stay in the village here for a night."

"Y-yeah…" Gaara was shocked. Naruko stopped and henged into a girl with brown hair and brown eyes and in a plain yukata.

"Better? You seem so shocked at the fact I killed everyone," Naruko said.

Gaara nodded and pointed out an inn. Naruko nodded and paid for a room.

Soon, evening fell. Gaara decided to stay in the room while Naruko went out for food.

Naruko walked around the market and surveryed the shops. Everything was scarce.

* * *

After buying enough food for the both of them, Naruko decided to walk by the dock. She sat by the dock and pulled her knees up to her chest. She put her chin on her knees and sighed.

"What do I do…" Naruko wondered. She could sense a person coming behind her and she didn't make any attempt to stop him.

"Do you regret it?" Naruko asked.

"No," he responded coolly and took a seat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I don't what to know why anymore," Naruko said sharply as she leaned her head on his chest. He sighed.

"I know something's happened," he pointed out.

"So you can still read my mind, huh?" she almost smiled.

"Let me guess…" he started.

"I can't stay here for long. I'll tell you myself," she said. "It started off with me staying in my apartment for a week. When I found out where my parent's lived and who they were, I was excited. I stepped out of my apartment and ended up being kissed by Lee, of course I didn't want to. Anyway, the Sandaime died a month later and then I met this boy named 'Gaara'. He's a jinchuuriki like me, of the weakest bijuu. Then Danzo-sama became Hokage and I've been training under him ever since. I've become colder and I'm scared I'll be so cold that not even you can bring me back…" Naruko said.

"Patience is a virtue," he said. With that, he disappeared.

"Bastard…" Naruko remarked. "Why would he approach me and not kiss me to say 'I missed you'? Ha, all I get is a reaffirmation of the fact he can still read my mind. Uchiha…" she sighed. Tomorrow, she'd go home. She got up and went back to the inn and made dinner and in the morning, Gaara and Naruko left. As she carried him on her back again, she could feel killer intent radiate off of the bridge. _Sasuke…_

**A/N I just felt like it. Sorry if this was stupid, but still. Next chapter is going to be a major time jump so I'll make sure that I put in enough character analysis so that it makes sense about the power level of Naruko and other people. See ya next time!**


	22. Hairpiece

Sasuke opened his eyes. He didn't know why, but he felt like today would be different. He almost felt like today was dreadful. Still, today was an ordinary day where he woke up, ate, and trained. Lately, Orochimaru had been acting strange. He'd been looking at him with interest, different from other times. _Orochimaru…that snake is planning to take my body. About time, it's been three years since I got here. Plus, today is the day of my special reconnaissance mission. _At this he remembered his first recon mission. He'd seen Naruko and even though he didn't show, was worried what the village was doing to her. She seemed to be curling back into herself. Perhaps after three years, she'd be so distant that not even he could bring her back.

A knock interrupted his thoughts.

"Sasuke?" Kabuto asked.

"What?" Sasuke asked, irritated.

"Oh, you're awfully prickly this morning," Kabuto smirked. Sasuke stared at him. "I would give you the newspaper, but I felt like telling you in person. Suna and Konoha are making good on their deed of in a way, unifying, their villages. The way they're doing it is awfully unoriginal, you know, marriage, but the two people involved are not. They're quite…special," Kabuto pushed his glasses up and they glinted.

"How so?" Sasuke smirked.

"Both of them are jinchuuriki," Kabuto grinned. Sasuke's face shown a hint of alarm. _Yeah, I got him! That look is priceless!_

"When is the wedding?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

"In a month. However, we have intel that a group of Konoha nin are planning to infiltrate this base and take you back today. One final chance before they send out their best to kill you," Kabuto said. "Oh, and by the way, Orochimaru-sama has moved your mission to today."

Sasuke got up and walked into the bathroom and shut the door, slamming it really. He took a hot, long shower and felt terrible. Naruko was slipping through his fingers and he felt that he needed to get her before it was too late and married and his dream of reviving the Uchiha clan with someone of his liking would be dashed.

"Argh!" Sasuke punched the wall, but didn't use chakra. He needed to feel this pain, to feel the pain that was perhaps only a fraction of what Naruko felt. _I know what I have to do. I have to get Naruko back. But before that, I have to see who is on the Konoha team coming. If it's Naruko, I'm going to go back with her. She will not get married._

Sasuke got ready to leave for his mission. He knew he couldn't fail this mission. He went to Orochimaru to get briefed on this mission.

"I want you to infiltrate Suna and get close to the Kazekage. When you get close to him, I want you to take down the village starting from the roots. Then slowly break apart the village, but don't get caught," Orochimaru said. Sasuke nodded and started the long journey to Suna.

* * *

"Kazekage-sama has requested your presence and Naruko's presence," Danzo said to Kakashi. Kakashi nodded stiffly. He was to leave immediately with Naruko. This was the last meeting of the two before their marriage. Kakashi's heart felt heavy. He didn't want Naruko to be married. At least, not this early and not just for the sake of the village.

"Naruko, we're to go to Suna now. Please pack," he said as Jiraiya let him in.

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei," she nodded and went to her room to pack.

"Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi started.

"Kakashi?" Jiraiya turned to him.

"I don't want her to get married," Kakashi admitted.

"Me too," Jiraiya said. "I remember when she was little with Kama and the two of them were so cute," Jiraiya smiled sadly. "Now she's 16 and being forced into a marriage. I don't think her heart can take any more. If only Minato and Kushina were here."

"Yeah," Kakashi said as Naruko came out. She'd sealed everything into a scroll and wore her mother's Uchiha hairpiece.

"Let's go, Kakashi-sensei," she said and walked past him to put on her shoes and walked out, not waiting. He sighed and stood and followed.

* * *

In the trees, Naruko suddenly voiced her opinion for the first time in two years, since the wedding had been arranged.

"I don't want to marry him," Naruko whispered. Kakashi didn't interrupt.

"I don't want to not because I don't like him. I do. But I feel that it's just…not right. I feel that I won't be happy living a lavish life married to a Kage. I'll miss the leaves of our village and I'll break, at last," Naruko admitted.

"I see. You don't have to answer if you don't want to but, why do you like him?" Kakashi asked hesitantly.

"I suppose it's because we're similar. We understand the pain of being jinchuuriki and hated for it. We're the children of Kage. We're so similar it's unnerving. But…" Naruko looked down.

"Hm?" Kakashi worried that he pushed her too much.

"But I don't want to marry him because we're similar. Our children will be seen either as royalty and become sad from being so distant from their peers or they'll be seen as monsters, being the children of the Kyuubi and Ichibi. So, I don't want to marry him because we're almost the same person," Naruko said. "On the other hand, if I do marry him, he'll get tired of me. That'll just make me sad because he wasted precious time with a girl who didn't even make him happy. And…" Naruko sighed. _He's not the one who can save my heart from the cold. I can feel the cold closing in on the last of the warmth in it. If I marry him, I'll be so cold that he'll end up being sad and it'll be my fault. My fault because I didn't say 'no' at the altar to him to save him. _Kakashi didn't push it.

At evening, they broke for camp. In a matter of minutes, Naruko unsealed some of the food she'd packed and made a stew. Kakashi summoned his dogs to catch rabbits and she prepared them and put them in the stew. After some time, she served. She flinched unnoticeably suddenly.

"Come out," Naruko ordered. After a moment, she stood and turned. "I'm not asking again. If you're that hungry, get out of the trees." A voice laughed lightly.

"If you say so, _Naruko-chan,_" a dark-haired male smirked as the light from the fire hit his face.

"S-sasuke!" Kakashi's eye widened.

"Long time no see, hasn't it," Sasuke smirked and in an instant had her pinned to a tree.

"What is it, Sasuke?" Naruko asked flatly.

"You're right. I am hungry," he said. "_For you."_

Naruko sighed and disappeared and reappeared where she'd left a kunai. Her father's kunai.

"Just eat the stew," she said, handing him a bowl.

* * *

Sasuke sat next to her and ate the stew like he hadn't eaten in ages.

"Y-you're awfully hungry, Sasuke," Kakashi sweatdropped.

Naruko ate her stew slowly. She stared in it. _He's so close. But I have to marry Gaara for the sake of the village. What's one life for a couple hundred? It'll be worth it…won't it?_ Naruko ate a carrot piece and tested its flavor. _My cooking has always been like this. It's tasty, but it's missing something. Probably because I'm missing something._

"Dobe, what's your problem with me?" Sasuke remarked.

"You seem like you're clinging to the past. And acting we're still 12. We're not, Sasuke. We're adults and…" Naruko hesitated. "I'm engaged."

"I know," Sasuke said. Naruko looked at him out of the corner of her eye, testing his reaction. Sasuke followed suit and smirked.

"I know that smirk…" Naruko said. "Don't. You'll only get killed. I don't want that to happen."

"Don't you worry, Naruko. I've gotten much stronger over the past three years. I'm sure you have too," Sasuke said and thanked her for the meal. Kakashi thanked her as well and silence fell over the three of them.

"I'm going to sleep," Naruko said and curled up on a blanket. After a few minutes, she was asleep. Sasuke stared at her with a sad smile. He leaned on a tree next to Kakashi.

* * *

"Kakashi," Sasuke looked at him coldly.

"What's up?" Kakashi avoided eye contact.

"Why did you let this happen? I thought that as her sensei, you wouldn't let that happen, nor that toad Sannin Orochimaru talked about. Then, I find out this morning that she's engaged to the same person I saw with her on her first recon mission in the Land of Waves. He couldn't even walk on water and Naruko had to carry him on her back. He did nothing to help her on the mission, but she had it controlled. Still, I can't see why the great 'Copy Ninja Kakashi' would let his sensei's daughter get married. Married to someone he wasn't sure she loved or was going to be happy with," Sasuke's eyes became as cold as ice and lost every bit of warmth.

"I had no choice. Danzo-sama would've turned her into a mindless weapon or extracted the Kyuubi and killed her," Kakashi retorted.

"You could've gotten her out of the village. I would've protected her," a voice from the forest said. Red hair shone brightly in the firelight.

"Namikaze Kama," Sasuke said even more coldly.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Kama glared. "And Hatake Kakashi. Two people I hate as of now. Kakashi, she didn't deserve this. Doesn't. I can't belive tou-chan's favorite pupil would be so useless! Kaa-chan would kill you if she was here!" Kama sighed. Naruko stirred and sat up.

"Nee-san," Naruko's eyes looked glazed as if she wasn't really looking at her.

"Can you take him for a moment?" Kama handed a large bundle of cloth to her. Naruko's eyes widened and if she weren't sitting she'd drop the tiny child. Sasuke got up and leaned on her shoulder looking just as shocked.

"T-this…" The child was reaching for her long blonde hair silenced Naruko.

"Prettyyy!" the black haired toddler laughed. Naruko shoved the child in Sasuke's arms and ran into the forest. _I can't! This reality…the future if I don't stop it will become me! Gaara and I...I know he won't like our children...I need to stop this! _Naruko flashed through handsigns and the most powerful barrier she could muster came up. It was the kind of barrier that blocked sound as well.

"Naruko!" Sasuke yelled. Naruko turned, sensing his chakra. Her red and black eyes met with his sharingan and she collapsed, making the barrier disappear. Sasuke rushed to her and he carried her back to camp. The child was crying but calmed down when he saw Naruko. He looked up to see Sasuke holding her and he glared at the boy.

"Move," Sasuke said.

"Meanie! What did you do?" the child kicked on his shins. Sasuke activated his sharingan and glared harder. The child gasped.

"Like tou-chan's!" he grinned. "Are you related to tou-chan?!"

Sasuke closed his eyes and placed Naruko on a blanket.

"What kind of genjutsu was that," Kama scowled.

"Nothing special," Sasuke glared.

"Jun, get away from him. Now," Kama looked at the small boy. He nodded and ran over.

"As lovely as it was seeing you two idiots and my sister, I have to be off," Kama said and disappeared with the boy.

**In Naruko's mind**

"Naruko. I don't get married to him. I know you're not going to be happy," Sasuke looked at her.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I have to do this…for the sake of so many lives. My life is insignificant to the number of people in Suna and Konoha. We'll be powerful and peace will reign. My happiness isn't relevant," Naruko said.

"To me it is! Naruko, please don't do this!" Sasuke pleaded. Naruko was shocked. He still worried and cared for her even after so long. "I can't stand seeing you married to a person like that! He thinks you should marry him just because you're hosts to bijuu and you're pretty and strong! Just because you know each other's pain! I will not stand by and watch you throw your heart away! I know you, Naruko. I know that you're hurting so much and you became so emotionless and cold to protect yourself and everyone else. You'll…you'll hurt me if you go through with this. And even if you end up on that altar in your mind saying, 'this is the right decision' you know it's not! You…you have to marry…_me!_" Sasuke had tears streaming down his face. "I'll break inside if I lose you. You're the only thing I've had on my mind since I left!" Sasuke breathed hard. Minato smiled as he placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Naruko, I've broken the genjutsu but it looks like his chakra wants to stay. But, I know his words are genuine. As your father and past Kage, I would've never married you to for the sake of the village. I can't tell you what to choose, but you need to choose. No matter what you choose, I'll always support you."

"Naruko! As your mom, I want you to marry Sasuke! Sasuke is my best friend's kid! Sasuke is one who is so much better than that Ichibi guy!" Kushina laughed.

"Mom…" Naruko sighed and felt tears run down her cheeks for the first time in three years. "I'm so confused." Naruko felt her mind going back to the real world and opened her eyes to reveal a sky about to give way to dawn.

* * *

"Naruko," a face peered down into hers. "Naruko."

She blinked.

"Sasuke?" Naruko asked.

"Yeah."

"I…" Naruko felt tears coming again and since he was so close, she knew he'd see them. Despite her wish, the tears came. He brushed them away. After a minute, sobs racked her body and she sat up as Sasuke moved away.

"Naruko, don't be so scared," Sasuke hugged her and she wrapped her arms around him and put her head on his chest.

"Come on. We've both got missions, so let's make them successes," Sasuke said.

"Yeah," Naruko agreed. "Kakashi-sensei, get up."

He opened his eye and packed up as Naruko sealed everything up again.

* * *

After two days, they were trudging through sand. Sasuke had decided to follow them and henge into a black cat that Naruko carried. He purred in her arms and she patted his head lightly. After two hours of sand, they arrived at the gates of Sunagakure no Sato.

"Sasuke, wake up," Naruko whispered. He opened his eyes and purred again.

A guard escorted them to the Kazekage's estate.

* * *

"Welcome, Naruko-chan, Hatake-san, and neko," Gaara said.

Naruko bowed deeply.

"I must change into my formal wear and bathe. Please excuse me," Naruko said and walked away with the cat. Gaara almost asked for her to leave the cat, but he decided not to.

"Kazekage-sama, please excuse me. I am very tired from the long journey, so I will be taking a nap and bathing for tonight's event," Kakashi bowed deeply. Gaara said not to worry and allowed him to be escorted to his room, seeing that it was his first time here while for Naruko's it wasn't.

"Neko, you stay here. Drink the milk that has been given to you," Naruko said. She walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She finished washing herself and stepped into the bath to soak. After a minute, a cat walked in.

"I thought I told you to not come in here," Naruko said.

"You never said such a thing. You said to stay over there. You never said I couldn't enter," Sasuke said after henge-ing back. Naruko knew he was naked from the shower turning back on and internally blushed slightly. Still her face was void of any emotion.

After a minute, Sasuke stepped into the bath as well.

"You've turned into a woman, haven't you? Back then, you could've almost passed as flat-chested," Sasuke put an arm around her shoulders. Sasuke's eyes drifted to her stomach, where dark markings were prominent.

"So that's the seal, huh?" Sasuke ran a hand over it.

"Yeah," Naruko tried to not to squirm, even though she was ticklish. A small laugh escaped her lips and she pushed him away.

"Oh, so you're ticklish?" Sasuke smirked. Her face was red and she looked alarmed.

"Don't try anything, Uchiha," she warned.

"Maybe not today I won't tickle you," Sasuke smirked. Naruko stepped out of the bath. Sasuke whistled.

"You're so perverted," Naruko mumbled. Sasuke caught her wrist.

"What was that?" Sasuke challenged her.

"Nothing, perv," she smirked.

"Okay then," Sasuke stepped out of the bath. Not meaning to, she saw his body. She blushed and disappeared and reappeared where she'd left her jacket that had her father's kunai in it.

Sasuke got dressed into a simple shirt and pants, both sporting the Uchiha crest.

Naruko took a full half hour getting dressed, eventually needing Sasuke's help to put on her kimono, which she had to tie very intricately. After finishing, Naruko walked into the bathroom where there was a mirror and put her hair up with the Uchiha hairpiece.

"Naruko…that hairpiece…" Sasuke stared at it.

"Was your mother's, wasn't it?" Naruko asked, sitting on the bed next to him.

"Yeah…where did you get it?"

"It was in my mother's things. I suppose it was a gift," Naruko looked at him.

A maid knocked.

"Naruko-sama? Dinner is ready," the maid said.

"Hai. Thank you," Naruko stood and Sasuke turned back into a cat. He stayed on her shoulder.

* * *

"How was your journey?" Gaara sat next to her as she ate.

"Interesting."

"How so?"

"Well, I ran into my nuke-nin sister and another nuke-nin," Naruko looked at the cat. It looked back with an innocent look and a 'meow?'. Gaara gasped.

"Guards! Seal off the building!" Gaara ordered. The cat jumped into Naruko's arms and Gaara's sand wrapped around her, not allowing her to escape.

"Kazekage-sama? What's going on?" Naruko asked.

"I need to make sure you're safe!" Gaara ran with the sand holding Naruko following him. He went deep into the estate, into a dark basement. He put Naruko in a cell and locked it. He activated all the seals that prevented her from even touching the walls.

"I'm sorry! I have to protect you!" Gaara said.

"Kazekage-sama!" Naruko yelled. The door leading to the upper floors shut loudly, silencing her. She turned to the cat.

"What do I do? There are too many seals and most of them on the inside are the kind that suppress and suck out chakra. The ones on the outside are the kind that block anything for entering," Naruko explained. Sasuke turned back into his human body.

"Well, then. Looks like we've got to burn it, don't we? Last time I checked, I had a fire nature and you had wind. Your wind chakra will make my jutsu even stronger," Sasuke kissed her passionately. Naruko nodded and they both began to weave handsigns.

**A/N Gaara locked Naruko away to protect her from all the nuke-nin! Except he didn't see the cat was the other nuke-nin… Will the seals hold?! Will Naruko agree to marry Gaara?! See ya next chapter!**


	23. He's Back

Together, they exploded and burned that part of the building. Sunlight blinded them for a moment, and heat rushed in.

"Sasuke, let's go," Naruko said and ran off. Sasuke followed her as they ran across the sands of the wind country.

In a way, Sasuke was in a crossroads. He could go with her and forget about Orochimaru, or go back and not care about failing it and wait for the Konoha team. _I suppose they're the same either way._

He watched Naruko run across the sands quickly. She stopped suddenly.

"I'm in range. Take my hand," Naruko offered her hand. Sasuke took it and he suddenly felt the urge to vomit. The scenery changed to a forest.

"W-what was that?" Sasuke tried his best not to vomit.

Naruko looked at him. As if debating whether or not to tell him.  
"Naruko, what was that jutsu?" Sasuke looked at her seriously. She remained silent. He took several deep breaths to keep himself from vomiting and stood. He grasped her shoulders firmly.

"What?" Sasuke asked. The look in his eyes meant he wasn't going to ask again.

"It's nothing," Naruko lied to his face, staring straight into his black orbs. Sasuke scoffed but left it at that.

"Naruko, go back to the village. I have to complete my mission," Sasuke said coldly. Naruko suddenly felt her world hurt all over again. It was like three years ago when he left her.

"H-hai…" Naruko said and flashed away, each kunai in range in a line leading to the village. In a few minutes, she was at the village. She sighed and walked into the village.

* * *

Sasuke stayed in a tree until Kakashi came strolling by.

"Where's Naruko?" Kakashi asked cautiously.

"I know you think I did something to her, but she left already. She's already at the village, she's been back for a day now," Sasuke said.

"I see," Kakashi felt his chest swell with pride. The Hiraishin was a complete success, even if it was the only thing him and Jiraiya were able to teach her because the Hokage practically wouldn't let them speak to her. But because Jiraiya was a Sannin, Danzo couldn't do much unless he wanted to cause unrest and distrust in the village.

"What was that jutsu she used to get there so fast? She didn't want to tell me and I still want to know," Sasuke's question was clear.

"…" Kakashi didn't want to anger her. "If she didn't want to tell you, I don't think I should."

"You all treat her like she's some fragile thing, or something foreign or scary. Come on, she's sturdier than that," Sasuke said.

"Sasuke, I don't know if you've realized, but after you left, she changed. From having a spark in her eye to having the title perhaps the best chef, stitcher, and talented kunoichi in all of Konoha. She built herself up and created walls around herself. She didn't want to hurt anyone, or perhaps the more likely option, to get hurt. Hokage-sama has only accelerated her loss of feeling. And he took the chance of strengthening Konoha by marrying her off like she wasn't human anymore," Kakashi explained.

"So it's my fault?" Sasuke laughed.

"No, it's everyone's. You didn't know this until now and until now had little to no role. But since you know, you play a significant role similar to Jiraiya-sama's, Hokage-sama's, and my role," Kakashi said. "I have to get back to the village. I won't tell Naruko we talked on the terms that you don't hurt her anymore," Kakashi said bitterly. Sasuke smirked and began to walk back to Suna to complete his mission. Kakashi watched him walk away and closed his eye as he walked back to Konoha.

* * *

Sasuke lay on his bed. He'd completed his mission. He didn't even have to be there to break Suna. He just had to wait and then it would be a domino effect. No matter what they did could prevent the fall of their village. What better way than causing unrest along every rank of person in the village over money and power? The Kazekage would be the first target.

"Sasuke?" Kabuto knocked. "I just wanted to tell you that the Konoha team is here."

Sasuke rolled on his bed. He was tempted to just kill them, no matter who they were, but then that would lead to another team being sent. He nodded. It was a good plan. He'd lure her out.

"…where?" a girl's voice asked. She sounded shrill. There was another girl on the team sounding just as frantic. Then he heard a set of quiet footsteps, sounding melancholy, but they continued on. His room was in the darkest hallway where there was no light. No light for about 10 feet. Another set of footsteps followed. Then two more. Konoha really sent a lot of people.

"You guys check over there. I'm going to check this last room," a voice said.

"I'll come too!" another voice said.

"If Kazekage-sama is coming, I'm going too!"

"Kiba, no. Leave them alone," Sasuke smirked. Kakashi, Gaara, Sakura, Ino, Kiba, and then another person came. Kiba growled but obeyed.

The door didn't creak open. Instead a familiar chakra signature appeared beside him.

"Figures," she said.

"What does?" Sasuke smirked.

"That you're in the darkest corner of this whole hideout."

"Wouldn't you be too, if you were me?"

"I'm not you."

"Have you gotten so cold that you can't even recognize a joke?" Sasuke took her wrist and got close to her face. Her skin was cold, too cold. He frowned. He leaned back and put his hand to her forehead. She was freezing.

"What have they been doing to you?!" Sasuke snarled. She didn't have time to respond because the door swung open. A candle illuminated the room from the doorway.  
"Get away from her!" Gaara yelled.

"What have you done?! She's sick! She's too cold!" Sasuke wrapped his blanket around her.

"Nuke-nin trash shouldn't be talking! I'm going to kill you here once and for all!" Gaara's sand rushed at him. Suddenly, the whole room exploded. Sasuke and Gaara stared in awe and shock.

"Kakashi! The seal!" Gaara yelled. Naruko was enveloped in red chakra with red eyes. She didn't make eye contact with Sasuke, knowing he'd just try to talk her out of the marriage or have some horrible genjutsu. Kakashi came into view. She flashed through handsigns and wind blew everyone about 100ft away. She began to destroy the whole area with the potency of her chakra. The ground began to buckle and crack.

"My, my, isn't this a surprise," Orochimari cooed as he stood in front of her. She grabbed his neck in a split second and his head popped off instantly. Another Orochimaru grew out of him and stabbed her with a sword. Naruko looked down in surprise and pulled it out. She gripped it and began to thrash him around, breaking his bones. She created two Kage Bunshin and threw a rasenshuriken at him. He screamed in agony and she grinned at his pain. Once the shockwave hit, she allowed herself to fly as the red chakra dissipated. She flew into a rock, breaking several of her ribs. She grinned and grimaced at the pain. Sasuke and Gaara and Kiba were running to her side. She looked at them with disinterest.

"Are you okay?!"

"You three are so stupid. Always chasing after me, always trying to get my heart," she placed a fist over hers.

"But don't you see? I don't have one anymore," she felt tears run down her cheeks. Gaara and Kiba looked shocked. Sasuke was surprised as he felt tears on his cheeks.

"Gaara, Kiba, go kill Orochimaru," Sasuke said. They glared at him but went to finish him.

"Naruko, what do you want?" Sasuke asked as he picked her up.

"In all honesty, I want you to come back to Konoha," she said. Her skin was still cold. She reached for her pocket, but realized that she wasn't wearing her regular clothes. She looked down in shock.

"Sasuke…what is this?" Naruko stared at the cloth she was wearing.

"It's a dress…one worn by the wife of head of the Uchiha clan," Sasuke smiled. "Why must you always wear my mother's things?"

"I didn't…I found it in my mother's things. Your mom must've made another and gave it to her…" Naruko reached for her hair and undid it. She had tied her hair around a scroll. She unfurled the scroll and unsealed her warmest clothing and blanket.

"Sasuke…" she gestured to the clothing as he put her sweater on her.

"I'll return to Konoha," Sasuke said.

"If you do, I promise to make it so that you'll only have to spend perhaps a year at most in prison," she smiled. Her eyes shone with a past elation.

"Don't worry about me, Naruko," he said as he wiped tears away from her cheeks as they rolled down her cheeks.

Everyone ran over as Sasuke was wrapping her blanket that sported the Uzumaki symbol around her.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura and Ino yelled. Naruko closed her eyes.

"Naruko-chan!" Kiba yelled.

"Naruko!" Gaara yelled.

"I've decided to return to Konoha," Sasuke said. "Naruko promised I wouldn't be incarcerated indefinitely."

Kakashi looked at Naruko with shock.

"Is that true, Naruko?" Gaara narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah," she said, almost challenging him to prove her wrong. "As Kazekage of a different country, you have no jurisdiction to—" Naruko was cut off as Gaara slapped her. She raised a hand to her cheek in surprise.

"As the Kazekage's fiancée, you can't speak against me!" Gaara yelled. She scowled and grabbed Sasuke's hand. They disappeared.

"Sorry, Sasuke," she mumbled, embarrassed he had to carry her to the gates of Konoha.

"For making me puke? That jutsu…I think you overdid it. The distance was too much and now I feel like shit," Sasuke scowled.

"I did apologize," she laughed.

"I'm glad, though," he said.

"Hm?"

"That you're happy," Sasuke said. "And it's because of me."

She smiled and leaned her head against his chest.

"Naruko!" Jiraiya called out. She didn't make any effort to look up. She weaved multiple handsigns and the heavy clothes disappeared. The blanket stayed, though. She picked it up and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Hai, Jiraiya-sama?" she ran over and bowed respectfully. He didn't say anything and she raised her head.

"Uchiha!" he called out as Sasuke ran over.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"I heard that Naruko managed to bring you back and I managed to pull some strings and you'll be spending only a month in prison!" he smiled.

"Why are you doing this for me?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he followed them into the village.

"Naruko, go to your apartment. Sasuke and I have to report to the Hokage," Jiraiya said. She bowed again and walked away.

"You're the only one who can bring her back. I'm sure you noticed she's too cold," he said as they walked to the Hokage tower.

"Yeah, there's something wrong with her. Is she sick?" Sasuke asked worriedly.

"I suppose you could say that."

* * *

"Nuke-nin Uchiha Sasuke, you will be going to a special prison. This prison is called Hōzukijō, in Kusagakure. Jiraiya and Naruko will accompany you," Danzo said. "You will leave tomorrow."

"Thank you, Hokage," Sasuke said, not bowing. Danzo scowled as they left.

* * *

"So, what is wrong with Naruko?" Sasuke asked as they walked to Naruko's apartment.

"I don't know. Tsunade came to the village following my plea for help on Naruko's behalf, and she said it was something about her spiritual chakra or something. All the stress of the engagement, training everyday for the past three years, and…not having you here pushed her too much. Plus, people began to get farther and farther away from her as a result of her cold nature. I suppose Naruko was recklessly trying to kill herself. Still, she wasn't able to die because of the reflex and instinct training she'd gone under. When she was alone and she had a kunai to her neck, Kakashi and I came just in time…" Jiraiya's eyes widened.

"We've got to find her!" Jiraiya said. They ran to her apartment and didn't find her.

"Follow me!" Jiraiya said. They ran to a house next to the Uchiha compound. Jiraiya noticed that the seal matrix had changed completely, only allowing people Naruko allowed in.

"Do you sense her?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah, she's in there. But deep, deep in the catacombs of this house…" Sasuke looked at the ground. He stepped onto the grass that marked the boundary of the property. He wasn't rejected by the seal.

"Sasuke, go!" Jiraiya said. Sasuke was already running into the house.

* * *

"Naruko!" Sasuke's voice was faint. "Where are you?"

"Here…" Naruko whispered. Sasuke's footsteps began to get louder and closer. She suddenly felt dread. _Would he hit me too for hiding from him?_

"Naruko!" his red eyes shone in the dark. He saw her chakra and ran over. Suddenly, she was enveloped in a hug.

"Sasuke…what're you doing?" Naruko asked.

"You're warming up…" Sasuke said. "Let's go."

"I…" Naruko didn't stand.  
"What?"

"…" Naruko touched her leg and felt something warm. She raised her hand to her mouth and tasted it. It was metallic. Blood.

"You're hurt? Where? Who?" Sasuke asked frantically.

"Yeah…Danzo-sama suddenly appeared in this house and stabbed me…for letting you come into the village," she said. Sasuke's eyes widened.

**A/N I can't decide if the chapters are too long or not. Anyway, Sasuke is going to prison! What will Naruko do?! Naruko is stabbed! **


	24. Nuke-nin Uchiha-sama Can't Cook!

"Congratulations, Naruko!" Teuchi grinned.

"Thank you very much," Naruko bowed. She wore a simple yukata and her hair was done up in a ponytail.

"I'm going to leave you to this, seeing that I can see you're eager," he sweatdropped as he was holding her back by her collar as she kept trying to move forward. "But Naruko."

She turned.

"Try to smile. For me," he gave her a sad smile. She nodded, but didn't smile. Tomorrow she was going to open her restaurant. It wasn't her idea. She didn't want to open one but she came up with the idea because Jiraiya wasn't reimbursing her for feeding him, so it was a good idea to get money out of the old pervert. Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai said it was a good idea as well, and Gai just creeped her out by saying how youthful it was or something. She'd thanked him anyway, much to Kakashi's dismay.

* * *

It took a week for word to get out that there was finally a new restaurant. There hadn't been one in more than 20 years. Naturally, people were interested. By two weeks, it became common if reservations were unavailable by noon; since people would wake up early enough, go to her restaurant and place a reservation.

On the day Sasuke was to arrive back in the village, she put a sign in the window reading, "Help Wanted". She took Saturdays off and today was a Saturday. Roughly 40 people lined up outside her small restaurant and she took one in each 10 minutes.

"Why do you want to work here?" "What skills, cooking, sales, waiter, or finance, do you possess?" "If you worked here, would you spend day and night making it so that the customer is always happy?" is what she'd ask. At around 6pm, all her interviews were done. She put all of them away into a large folder and walked out, locking the door behind her. She took one step forward and stopped. She felt a kunai at her throat.

"Yes?" she stared into his eyes.

"If you don't hire Yamada Sorata, we're going to ruin your restaurant," he said, pressing the kunai to her neck harder, drawing blood.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Kazekage-sama is in Konoha. I'm Uzumaki Naruko," she said, watching their faces contort in fear and shock and removed the kunai from her neck.

"Kazekage-sama," she bowed deeply. "Please don't worry about me. And, I'll hire Yamada-san. He seemed like he was a good waiter."

"Naruko-chan, I'll always worry about you. And, we need to talk," Gaara said as the man bowed and muttered apologies and ran away.

"About?" Naruko asked as they walked to her apartment.

"When you were in Suna," he said suspiciously.

"I'm sorry for ruining your dinner," she stopped and knelt and bowed.

"I want to know where that cat came from. And how you managed to break the cell when I didn't sense any of the Kyuubi's chakra. Whose fire release chakra was that?" he asked.

"There are two people eavesdropping," she said, looking into the bushes. The bushes flinched. "Let's continue this…in my house."

* * *

"This is your house?" Gaara was in awe.

"Hai."

"Then…why do you live in an apartment?" he asked.

"I inherited it. I happen to like my apartment as well as this house," she said as she walked to her parent's bedroom. She flopped backwards on the bed and sighed in content. Suddenly, lightning flashed in the window and she fought down a yelp.

"Are you okay?" Gaara walked in, seeing her fists clench. He couldn't find the light switch, so it was dark except for when the lightning flashed.

"K-kazekage-sama…" Naruko whispered. Gaara walked over to her but tripped over something on the floor. He fell on the bed, and specifically, on her. He used his arms to support himself and saw that Naruko had shut her eyes tightly. Gaara had an idea suddenly and grabbed her fists and uncurled them and put her hands under his.

"Kazekage-sama?" she asked.

"It's okay, Naruko-chan," he said as he kissed her. Her eyes shot open in shock. She tried to turn away, but he was pushing against her. She groaned in frustration and anger, but he took it as a good sign to continue. He moved her hands to be under one of his and she screamed in her mouth as she felt him undoing her yukata. Under that she only had a bra and underwear. To her relief, he broke the kiss.

"Kazekage-sama, please stop," she pleaded.

"Why stop? We're getting married anyway," he said. His eyes had a glint in them. "Unless you don't want to marry me. And, you still haven't answered my questions. If you answer them honestly, I might consider stopping and continuing this after the wedding," he said.

"H-hai…well, the cat is a friend. This friend was a person using a henge. His fire chakra helped me escape, combining with my wind chakra," Naruko hesitated.

"Who is this person?" Gaara asked, unclasping her bra and throwing it to the side. She screamed but was silenced from the killer intent coming from two people.  
"Tell me!" Gaara ordered.

"I can't!" Naruko said, tears forming in her eyes.

"Why the hell not?!" Gaara growled. He raised his hand to hit her again, but was stopped by another hand.

"Because it was me!" Sasuke yelled and electrocuted him. Gaara shakily stood.

"Uchiha trash, stay away from me and my fiancée!" Gaara growled.

"Stop acting so cruel to her!" Sasuke flashed through handsigns but was stopped as Naruko took both of their wrists and went to the training grounds. There she dropped Gaara there but took Sasuke back to her house. She picked up her yukata and hastily put it on.

"What happened?!" Sasuke's sharingan had the Mangekyo.

"Kazekage-sama…he tried to force himself on me. He forced me to tell who the person who helped me break out of the cell in Suna was…" Naruko covered her face in her hands.

"You're mine. No one tries to make you theirs and lives," Sasuke growled.

"Sasuke! Don't…killing the Kazekage will only cause a war!" Naruko said. "I'll handle things…please don't worry," she looked at him meaningfully. Sasuke growled but handed her a scroll.

"It's to summon me if anything goes wrong," Sasuke said.

"Thank you, Sasuke," she said. "Tomorrow Kazekage-sama and I have to get ready for the wedding. It's tomorrow night. Please promise me you won't kill him or anyone else before, during, or after the wedding? Believe in me that I have everything under control," Naruko stood and grasped his shoulders.

"Fine," Sasuke said, kissing her. She kissed back hesitantly, and then Sasuke pulled her closer and she felt her heart opening up, even if it was just a little.

**The Wedding**

Jiraiya walked Naruko down the aisle. He looked like the unhappiest and angry ninja Konoha had. He was outdone by the Uchiha sitting in the very back of the building.

Kakashi had the grueling and heartbreaking job of reading them their vows, which Gaara agreed to with a sickening smile as he held her hands. He wore a simple tuxedo while she wore her mother's wedding kimono with an Uzumaki necklace and the Uchiha hairpiece.

_Please Naruko, don't say yes! _Sasuke, Jiraiya, and Kakashi pleaded.

"Naruko, do you take Kazekage-sama as your husband?" Kakashi asked. Naruko's eyes drifted to the Hokage monument and her father almost looked like he wanted to say no for her. She smiled a little.

"I do," Naruko smirked. _Your turn, Sasuke. _She loved to mess with her Uchiha. So much fun, especially when there was this much pressure and stress. Too good of an opportunity to miss.

"Anyone who objects to this union must speak now or forever hold their peace," Kakashi grimaced. Naruko had just made a huge mistake. Minato was going to kill him in the afterlife!

"I do! I love Naruko!" Sasuke yelled and walked up to her, standing between her and Gaara.

"Naruko, choose! Me, or Gaara?!" Sasuke looked at her with anger, but behind that he was worried. Had be put his faith in a person who didn't deserve it after all?

"Uchiha Sasuke," she smiled. Sasuke's face changed and he smiled. He kissed Naruko passionately and everyone left, except the Sand siblings, Kakashi, Jiraiya, Naruko, and Sasuke.

"Is this true…?" Gaara shook with anger.

"Hai, Kazekage-sama," Naruko bowed.

Gaara sighed. "I should've known it was useless. I'm sorry, Naruko. For being so unreasonable."

"And for hitting her! You're not just unreasonable!" Sasuke tried to jump him but Naruko held him back.

"Goodbye, Kazekage-sama. When I'm Hokage, I hope we won't let this hurt our friendship as just friends or Kage," Naruko bowed and walked away with Sasuke.

* * *

"Naruko, are you sure he didn't do anything to you?" Sasuke looked her in the eye.

"Sasuke…can we talk about this later?" Naruko asked as she gestured to the large crowd around her restaurant. She saw some of them talking about them and pointing. She frantically unlocked the door as one woman tapped her shoulder.

"Maybe you should hire him! He's awfully cute and I think you two look good together!" she smiled.

"Ah, is that so? I'll consider it. Thank you," Naruko held the door open but Sasuke ushered her in and propped the door open and followed her into the kitchen.

"Sasuke, stay with Sorata and help him sort out the finances," Naruko said as she ordered the waiters and waitresses around. The waiters dispersed and the day began. Naruko rolled her sleeves up and paused for a moment. Then, she began. The pan was hot and everything began to smell so good and she kept chopping vegetables and filling dumplings and cutting dough for noodles and marinating meat.

"Sasuke, come over here please," Naruko said as a delivery came with fresh fish.

Sasuke came over and followed Naruko's instructions to scale the fish.

"You have to remove the scales first," Naruko said. Sasuke's knife wasn't moving fast enough; it was going to take forever to scale this fish.

"Sasuke, why don't you make rice?" Naruko said after a minute. Sasuke looked at the fish and saw that it was already being cooked.

"Yeah…" Sasuke measured the rice and put water in the pot and closed the lid. Naruko cringed.

"Megumi, come over here for a minute," Naruko said. Megumi, one of the staff, came over.

"Oh, I see. That's so funny!" Megumi laughed. Naruko smirked and playfully pushed her shoulder. "Fine, fine, I'll tell him," Megumi said as Naruko started dough for another thing.

"Sasuke-san, since Naruko is busy, I'm going to teach you how to make rice," Megumi tried not to laugh.

"What're you talking about? I cooked it fine!" Sasuke argued, opening the lid to reveal that yes, the water had boiled off, but when he chewed some of the rice, it was still hard and it wasn't the normal white color.

Megumi looked at him apologetically. "Sasuke-san, please watch carefully."

Megumi took another pot and measured 2 cups of rice. She washed it with water until the water wasn't cloudy, dumping out the water each time. Then she refilled the pot with water and put the heat on medium.

"How do you know how much water to put in?" Sasuke asked.

"You can measure it with a measuring cup, or measure with your finger, the middle one up to the first line from the tip of your finger. The tip of your finger just touches the top of the rice and the water level just reaches the first line of your middle finger," she said. Then she remained by its side until the water was about to boil over.

"Of course, a beginner like you can just wait until it actually boils over," she said, taking the lid off.

"Which is?" Sasuke asked, looking away. Naruko tried not to laugh. _The great Uchiha Sasuke can't cook!_

"When the water bubbles out of the pot and drips down the sides of the pot," Megumi said.

"Once it boils over, take off the lid, like I have. Wait until the water boils off and no bubbles appear between the rice. Put the lid back on, turn the heat to its lowest setting, and wait ten minutes," she said and walked away. Sasuke glanced at the clock nervously.

* * *

Ten minutes was up. He tasted the rice. It was perfect.

Naruko picked a grain of rice from his face and ate it.

"Yeah, I knew Megumi could cook," she said to herself aloud before stirring a pot of soup. Suddenly, her face donned a sinister look.

"Sasuke, could you cut the onion and green onion for me in little pieces?" Naruko smiled. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. What's so bad about that white round thing and green stick?

* * *

"Naruko!" Sasuke growled.

"Hai, Uchiha-sama?" Naruko smiled innocently.

"You didn't tell me that onions make you cry when you cut them! How am I supposed to cut them when I can't see?!" Sasuke yelled. Naruko peeked her head out into the dining room where the customers were. They all heard Sasuke and some were trying to hold back laughs. Naruko smiled and went back into the kitchen.

"I'm sure the great nuke-nin Uchiha Sasuke can cut some vegetables, right?" Naruko said loudly, making sure everyone in the restaurant heard.

"Who said I couldn't?" Sasuke's voice got dangerous. Naruko peeled some potatoes and carrots as Sasuke minced the onions. Sasuke with his red and puffy eyes smirked at her.

"Good job, Sasuke," Naruko said, surprised.

"You know what I think?" Sasuke asked.

"Hm?" Naruko remained calm on the outside but she wondered what he was thinking on the inside.

"We have a lot of catching up to do, seeing that I've done my job here and you work nearly 20 hour days here, for the past month," Sasuke grinned.  
"Sasuke, I can't leave—" Naruko protested as Sasuke picked her up bridal style and carried her out. The kitchen was in the back, farthest from the entrance, making it so that everyone saw them.

"…good couple."  
"cute children…"

"Uchiha heir?"

"caring boyfr…"

Naruko blushed as she heard them talking about them. Sasuke smirked down at her and she pouted.

* * *

"Well, what did you want to talk about?" Naruko asked.

"I'm surprised you aren't interested in my stay at the prison," Sasuke said.

"I'm not because I found out myself personally," Naruko said.

"You went to the prison?" Sasuke turned to look at her.

"Yeah. Since you all have your chakra sealed you didn't sense me," Naruko said. "I was even in your cell and you didn't see me," Naruko grinned.

"Well, I kinda have an important question," Sasuke said, changing the subject. He looked away.

"Hm?" Naruko asked, leaning back on the couch in her house as Sasuke suddenly got even closer. He grabbed her and looked her in the eye with a slight blush, which he'd probably go to say it was the onions later.

"Do you…" Sasuke started.

"I know what you're trying to say," Naruko sighed and blushed slightly. "You want a wife and an Uchiha heir, right?" Sasuke nodded.

"So, even after the whole marriage/wedding thing, you…" Sasuke asked.

"No, of course not. Look, I thought I liked Kazekage-sama. It was a good match and we were both jinchuuriki. He actually loved me so…yeah," Naruko smiled sheepishly. "What I mean to say is yes, Sasuke. I'll marry you," Naruko kissed him on his cheek.

"You'll really marry me?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah," Naruko smiled.

"Our children will be so cute," Sasuke smirked. Naruko's eyes widened.

"I thought we'd only have one…" Naruko said, suddenly feeling that Sasuke was too close. She noticed and she was laying down and Sasuke was above her, his face close to hers. He wasn't like the others this time, the way Lee had pinned her hands and forced himself on her.

"You know I can't have that. The Uchiha clan is on the brink of extinction, so we need to have many heirs, right?" Sasuke smirked.

"Naruko-san!" a voice from the doorway. The figure stopped at the couch in shock.

"You…" Lee started.

"Lee-san…" Naruko blushed.

"Lee, get the hell out!" Sasuke said, getting up to make sure he was out. Sasuke growled and locked the door.

"Sorry, Sasuke. I must've taken down the seal to let in someone who had as much chakra as you…" Naruko sighed.

"It's fine," Sasuke flickered and reappeared next to her as she sat up, and kissed her passionately.

**A/N No, this isn't the end. It could be, but it isn't. Oh yeah, REVIEW! See ya next chapter! **


	25. Fever

**A/N Just wanted to remind you all that this story is Rated M...**

Naruko slept in her bed, deeply asleep. She wasn't aware of the sudden presence of a ninja in her house, nor did she feel arms carry her to an unknown location. She might've briefly woken up, but it was the dead of night and she'd been drugged beforehand anyway. She might've panicked, but she knew she'd be able to get out of whatever problem came her way. Still, she had her doubts.

* * *

Naruko opened her eyes. She felt hungry, but she knew she'd eaten a lot last night. She tried to remember last night and blushed deeply. _Sasuke and I…he'd talked about an heir, and I didn't think we'd actually…me and him…_Naruko grinned. _I'm pregnant, aren't I? Well, Sasuke, you'll be the first one to know when you wake up._ Naruko laughed and tried to get up.

"Huh?" Naruko began to panic. She couldn't get up. Then she noticed she couldn't see. It was pitch black. There was rope holding her down and she felt the drain of chakra suppressors, a lot of them.

"Let me go!" Naruko screamed.

"Is that so?" a voice rang out. Naruko turned in the direction of the voice.

"Who's there?" Naruko narrowed her eyes.

"You don't remember me? I'm disappointed in you. As the Hokage's special student, I would've thought you knew everyone in the village, especially one in your graduating class," the voice was a husky male one.

"Kiba-kun?" Naruko asked, not sure.

"Ah, the village's strongest kunoichi figured it out. Congratulations," he said.

"Sasuke's going to kill you when he finds me!" Naruko growled.

"But he's not going to," he said.

"Why's that?" Naruko felt fear.

"Because I'm keeping you forever," he said. She could hear his smirk.

He kissed her roughly and before she could react, she felt his tongue in her mouth. She began to scream, her muscles tensing against the ropes. Her chakra couldn't help her break it. She felt his hands run along her body and she shivered. She noticed why she felt strange: she was naked. Kiba broke the kiss and smirked as his hands assaulted her breasts.

"You're so soft," Kiba remarked as he ran his tongue down her neck and onto her breasts.

"Please stop!" she yelled. She screamed even louder as she felt his fingers enter her.

"So you like that, huh?!" Kiba smirked. She felt tears run down her face into her hair.

"We can't have you getting pregnant ya know, so…" Kiba sighed in discontent. She heard rustling of plastic and realized it was probably a condom. She felt slightly relieved, but she was still nervous.

"I'm ready," Kiba laughed and Naruko screamed as pain echoed through her body as she felt him thrust in her and out. Naruko screamed in fear and pain.

When she thought it would never end, he finally collapsed on top of her, kissing her again. She felt he eyes were dry after all the crying she'd done.

"Kiba, move. It's my turn," another boy Naruko didn't recognize ordered. Kiba grunted and moved off of her.

* * *

It continued. Naruko didn't know how many of them there were. She didn't know how long she'd been here, but she knew she'd been here too long.

"I want to go home…" Naruko whispered. "I want to go home."

_**You've got yourself in quite the predicament, kit.**_

Naruko turned and saw the Kyuubi in his cage.

"Hey, Kyuubi…" she greeted and sat down.

_**What's wrong?**_

"I'm sure you can figure that out, Kyuubi."

_**Well, I know that whenever they do that to you, your blood pressure spikes, and it's like earthquakes in here! I hate it. Do something.**_

"How am I supposed to do that when I have all my chakra suppressed?!" Naruko glared.

_**Ooh, scary kunoichi. Well, not all of the chakra at your disposal is sealed away. I'm sure you've noticed it's easier to access my chakra.**_

"I thought you were against us humans?"

_**Well, if giving you some of my chakra will make it so that you don't cause any future problems for me, it's worth it.**_

"Thanks, Kyuubi. You know, you're not as bad as everyone says you are."

_**…**_

Naruko concentrated and felt a warm feeling in her stomach. After a moment, her body was seemingly on fire with red chakra. Surprised and fearful voices echoed around her but she didn't hear them. She was concentrating on sending a huge pulse of chakra to alert anyone, but preferably Sasuke or Jiraiya or Kakashi-sensei.

* * *

Sasuke had his hands on Danzo's neck.

"What do you mean you don't know where she is?!" Sasuke growled with his Mangekyo Sharingan.

Danzo didn't respond. He pushed Sasuke off of him as Sasuke suddenly stopped. Sasuke felt the pulse of chakra and jumped through the window towards it.

"Naruko!" Sasuke screamed as he jumped through the village. At the very edge, he came upon an unsuspecting house.

"So she's here…" Sasuke said as he went in the house and saw an entrance to below the house. Sasuke jumped through it as his body crackled with lightning. He sensed about 20 people here. His eyes glowed in the darkness and picked up on another thing glowing: red chakra. 19 people surrounded him and Sasuke quickly incapacitated them. The dropped like flies as Sasuke electrocuted them. Sasuke idly wondered how they managed to become ninja.

"Sa…su…ke…" Naruko reached out with a hand. Sasuke ran over and tore the rope. He ripped off the chakra suppressing seals and hugged her tight.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked. Naruko didn't respond; she was asleep in his arms. He looked around and found her clothes and carried them outside.

"Why must you make me worry so much?" Sasuke wondered as he put her clothes back on. Naruko was still asleep, and it looked like she hadn't slept in a week. _I can't believe I let her stay there for a week…_

* * *

Naruko woke up in her bed with Sasuke sleeping next to her. On two chairs, passed out, were Kakashi and Jiraiya.

"Why are you all here?" Naruko wondered. Sasuke stirred and kissed her.

"Because we worry," Sasuke said.

"Uchiha, get away from my godchild," Jiraiya scowled. Kakashi narrowed his eye.

Sasuke waved a hand at them and allowed Naruko to get up. She stood from the bed, but immediately fell over from the searing pain all over her body.

"Naruko?" Kakashi caught her as she almost fell.

"I-I'm fine, Kakashi-sensei. Jiraiya, you can leave too," Naruko smiled as she shakily stood but felt her legs give out again. Her face flushed, embarrassed.

"Seriously, what happened to you?" Sasuke asked, rolling over. His hair was the same as it always was, except for one side, which had a severe cowlick.

"Naruko, Jiraiya-sama and I are going out to get you something to eat. You look pale," Kakashi said as he left. Sasuke picked her up and put her back in bed. He stared at her for a moment and then put his hand on her forehead.

"You're running a fever," he clicked his tongue.

"I am?" she asked.

"Now I'm really worried. Tell me what happened," Sasuke said.

"Sorry, Sasuke. I'm sick, so I've got to rest, ne?" Naruko avoided the question. Sasuke grunted and fell back asleep with her in his arms.

* * *

"Naruko, wake up. We're back," Kakashi said. Naruko opened her eyes. Kakashi took one look at her and saw that her fever had soared.

"Kakashi-nii!" Naruko hung onto his neck. Jiraiya fought down laughs. Sasuke opened one eye, showing his Mangekyo.

"Naruko, what do you think you're doing?" Sasuke asked dangerously. Naruko turned to him, unfazed.

"Ah, it's Sasuke-kun!" Naruko smiled but didn't let go of Kakashi.

"Ne, Kakashi-nii," Naruko said. Kakashi didn't respond. _Get off of me!_

"Why did tou-chan and kaa-chan get killed by the Kyuubi?" Naruko asked. "And what are you hiding under that headband? And why is Jiraiya such a perv?" Naruko turned to him. She suddenly let go of Kakashi.

"You killed them!" Naruko strangled Jiraiya. Kakashi pried her off.

"And you're his accomplice!" Naruko began to strangle them both. Sasuke sighed and got up.

"Naruko, she killed them," Sasuke said, smirking. She turned to see Kama in the doorway.

"Nee-chan!" Naruko went over and hugged her. "I missed you!"

"Uh-huh. That's nice…" Kama sighed. "What's this I hear she got raped?" her icy gaze turned to Kakashi and Sasuke.

"What?!" Sasuke growled, taking Naruko and shaking her.

"Hey, she's sick," Kama took her and threw her on her back.

"Yeah! Nee-chan's a horse!" Naruko laughed.

Kama began to run around the house, having Naruko scream in delight.

"This brings back memories, huh, Naruko?" Kama smiled.

"Yeah! When you did this when I was little and that was the day I met Sasuke! Itachi gave him a ride too but Sasuke looked so unhappy, so I made him let me carry him! I'm the best ninja ever!" Naruko grinned.

"I'm glad," Kama said, stopping abruptly and dropped Naruko.

"Nee-chan!" Naruko pouted.

"Sasuke, let's go. I know who did it and why," Kama said. "Naruko, you want to come with nee-chan and Sasuke and the two old guys?"

"We're not old!" Jiraiya and Kakashi said.

* * *

"Kiba!" Sasuke ran into the Inuzuka clinic. Kiba was there, sitting. Waiting.

"Sasuke," Kiba smirked. Naruko was trying to kill him but Kakashi and Jiraiya somehow managed to hold her back.

"I got to fuck her before you, Uchiha," Kiba declared. Sasuke smirked. Kiba's face fell as he realized what Sasuke was saying.

"Sasuke…" Kama started. "We're talking after we kick this guy's ass!" Kama yelled.

* * *

"What do you mean there's an Uchiha heir?!" Kama yelled.

"I mean that Kiba was too late and in 9 months the Uchiha clan will take it's first steps to being rebuilt," Sasuke sipped his tea, smiling.

"You're wrong. Itachi beat you to it, remember?" Kama smiled. Sasuke huffed.

"Technically, since I'm the heir in the village, it's official within not just the Land of Fire, but the other great nations," Sasuke retorted.

"Yeah, nee-chan! Sasuke said that he's revived the Uchiha clan with me!" Naruko grinned. Suddenly her smile faded.

"I'm tired! I don't wanna move! I wanna go home!" Naruko began to scream. Sasuke sweatdropped. _What's with her fever?!_

"Good luck, Uchiha Sasuke. If she's anything like our mother, she's going to be a handful while she's got that Uchiha in her," Kama smiled innocently.

Sasuke glared as he picked her up and went back to her house.

* * *

"Sasuke, feed me," Naruko reached out. Sasuke smiled and spooned her the soup. At the bottom that had floated down were thin slices of onion and chicken. Sasuke picked up a pair of chopsticks and fed her the chicken.

"Sasuke, what is this?" Naruko pointed to her mouth.

"Chicken…" Sasuke said.

"I like it! Where did you grow it?" Naruko asked. Sasuke sighed. He finished feeding her and made her take her medicine.

"Sasuke, I'm tired," Naruko yawned in his arms as he set her down in her bed and took his place next to her.

"Good night, Naruko," Sasuke said.

"Night, Sasuke," Naruko mumbled and fell asleep.


	26. Death

Naruko held the child in her arms with a small smile. Sasuke ran in, almost tripping on the floor. He caught himself and ran to her side.

"How's she doing?" Sasuke asked frantically.

"She's fine, Sasuke," Naruko smiled.

"What's her name going to be?"

"How's…" Naruko looked out the window.

"Haruka?" Sasuke frowned.

"Yeah, that'll work," Naruko handed the small bundle to Sasuke.

"Naruko-san, Hokage-sama has requested your presence," an ANBU suddenly appeared.

"H-hai…I'll be right there," Naruko said, taking Sasuke's hand and walked there.

* * *

"Hai, Hokage-sama?" Naruko asked, uncomfortable in her current state of dress—a thin blue nightgown, hospital issue.

"We've received news of the death of Namikaze Kama. A young child was found near the gates of the village," Danzo said. Naruko, after all her training, used all of her willpower to not show any emotion.

"Is that all, Hokage—" Naruko was cut off.

"It was that bastard, huh! Itachi killed her, huh?!" Sasuke yelled.

"Sasuke," Naruko scolded, the baby starting to cry.

"You're dismissed," Danzo said, irritated from the noise it was making. Sasuke and Naruko left the room and as Sasuke closed the door, Naruko shoved the baby in Sasuke's arms.

"Sasuke, take Haruka and find Jun. I've got work to do," Naruko said, leaving before he could argue.

In her apartment, Naruko changed into her regular clothes and packed kunai and shuriken and scrolls. She used the hiraishin to get outside of the village gates, roughly 100 feet. She ran to wherever she could sense anyone's chakra nearby; they were bound to be close since Jun couldn't have traveled far without her or Itachi.

"I knew you'd come," a voice called.

Naruko threw her father's kunai in the direction of the voice and appeared where she thought the person would be. With another kunai in hand, she tried to stab the figure.

"Stop, it's me," a voice said.

"Itachi!" Naruko growled as she hit the tree, since Itachi dodged.

"I'm this close to Konoha for the same reason you are," Itachi said. "I'm glad you left Sasuke with Jun and your child," Itachi sighed.

"Let's go," Naruko said, keeping her guard up around the S-Rank nuke-nin. Itachi led her to where Kama's body had lay.

"Who had taken her down so easily?" Naruko wondered.

"I sense someone's chakra getting farther from here. Let's track them down," Itachi said, jumping into the trees and going moderately fast.

* * *

"Ne, Itachi-san," Naruko started.

"Hm?"

"I kept thinking about it, and I came to the conclusion that you didn't kill the Uchiha clan just to kill them. Considering your personality, what would be the point? I mean, you're not a killing maniac. If you were, everyone in the Chuunin Exams three years ago would be dead," Naruko said.

"You're asking why I killed the Uchiha clan," Itachi concluded.

"It's okay if you don't tell me! I'm sorry I was so nosy and…" Naruko trailed off.

"As the sister of Kama, I'll tell you. I'll tell you on the terms that you use this information to prevent Sasuke from harming the village. You may also tell him if you wish, seeing that I wouldn't be able to stop you otherwise," Itachi said.

"Are you sure?" Naruko asked.

"Yes. I trust you as much as I did Kama," Itachi felt his heart sink at the mention of her.

So Itachi told her.

* * *

"Itachi-san, I didn't realize you had to sacrifice your entire life to prevent a war," Naruko said, saddened.

"It was alright, though. I had Kama," Itachi said.

"Itachi-san, I sense chakra coming from two directions. I'll take the one on the right," Naruko said, jumping away into the trees.

* * *

Naruko stopped, observing Jiraiya peeping into a women's bath.

"Jiraiya, what're you doing?" Naruko cracked her knuckles with an annoyed face.

Jiraiya laughed and slapped her back.

"Just research, you know that," Jiraiya smiled devilishly. Naruko felt something stab her and as she reached behind her, she collapsed.

"W-what did you do?" Naruko glared.

"Something to do for my benefit," he said, his face turning into an orange mask. Naruko fell unconscious and felt her body being sucked into his mask.*

* * *

Itachi frowned in confusion. His attacker had suddenly stopped. He cursed himself for letting Naruko go on her own. He turned and went in the direction of Naruko, only to find nothing. He sighed and went to the one place where she could be: the Akatsuki hideout.

...

At the Akatsuki hideout, Naruko opened her eyes to see others in a similar state. Seals covered her body, preventing any chakra from being brought to the surface. She pursed her lips and looked around. There were a few others: a woman with green hair, a man with a red beard, and a man with a blue yukata.

Naruko stirred slightly, feeling pain shoot through her body.

"Such a pushover, un," someone bragged.

"Shut up," another gravely voice ordered.

"I'm not going to, un!" the voice replied.

Naruko focused her vision on them and made out a blonde and another's form. It was a person about her height with red hair.

"Gaara?" Naruko tried to move forward, but felt ropes holding her back.

"So you're awake, un," the blonde one noted.

"What is this place?" Naruko breathed heavily, feeling the strain of not having any of her chakra and feeling multiple bruises and cuts covering her body. Someone had really made sure she wouldn't be able to move well.

"Your grave," the blonde said, walking towards her. She felt fear as he came towards her and she couldn't stop him.

"Leave her alone," the man in the blue yukata said.

The blonde made a face and kicked him in the face repeatedly.

"Jinchuuriki don't talk back to anyone!" the blonde had a look of pure anger.

Naruko gritted her teeth and looked away.

"What's wrong, blondie?" the blonde forcefully turned her head to look at him. She shut her eyes and pleaded for the blonde to go away.

"Don't be afraid of me. Be afraid for what's going to happen to you in about three weeks," he grinned. She sent him a questioning look.

"We're taking that tailed beast out of all of you," he said, grinning like a maniac.

"Since you're the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki, you're the last one. I'll be sure to make sure that your time here is _enjoyed_," he smirked and took his hand away.

Naruko shuddered. She didn't want to know what _exactly_ he was implying. _I've got to get out of here_.

Gaara's eyes twitched open as he saw Naruko. Even though he knew Naruko was a lost cause, he cared for her, if not as a friend.

"N-naruko…" Gaara croaked. Naruko's emotionless blue eyes looked into his green ones. She looked at him with an unreadable look, almost regret or remorse.

"A-are you o-okay?" Gaara weakly said as a shark man covered Gaara in seals and chained him next to Naruko.

"Hai," Naruko responded as if her mind wasn't really there.

"Hey…" Gaara said.

"Hi."

"I heard about your pregnancy…" Gaara got uncomfortable.

"She's with Sasuke."

"How did you get caught?"

"An extremely good henge, down to the chakra signature."*

"Oh. The blonde one exploded his clay in my face."

Naruko closed her eyes. She'd been to Mount Myoboku only a few times, and that was under the supervision of that small old frog. If she was going to get out of there, she needed to gather natural energy and not turn into a frog, even though it looked like she was only good at doing that.

_Kyuubi, please help me._

_**I'm not helping you, I'm making sure they don't take me out of you and then use me for some twisted purpose, kit. Don't be thanking me either.**_

_Thank you, Kyuubi._

_**Shut up!**_

Naruko pursed her lips and sat very still. Many days had passed in the real world, but she didn't feel it. Being underground makes it hard to tell time. After almost three days, she had finally gathered enough natural energy. It would've taken a much shorter time, but in her state of being with severe wounds—she guessed she had some broken bones—she couldn't gather much quickly.

_I'm ready._

The seals burned off and Naruko's eyes had orange rings on her eyelids and her eyes turned to look similar to a frog's. Gaara stirred to see Naruko stand. Gaara sensed it was early morning and was shocked to see the chains and ropes that held her down had burned. Naruko weaved multiple handsigns and fire exploded from her mouth. She followed the fire style jutsu with a wind style, making the fire hotter. Gaara squinted and turned away. It was scorching.

A water style jutsu came in response. Naruko quickly weaved signs and ended up with a barrier around herself.

"Aren't you interesting," the shark man remarked.

Naruko didn't respond. She narrowed her eyes and weaved more signs. In the flurry of another fire style jutsu, she engaged Kisame in a taijutsu battle, quickly pushing him back. She punched him and he dodged, only to feel the effects of the punch after.

"What is this? I dodged it!" he growled. Naruko weaved more signs and threw a scroll at him. The scroll glowed slightly and then bound him. She put her hands together to make another handsign but she didn't move after that. She willed more chakra to bind him, knowing that he had an insane amount of chakra. Suddenly, paper fluttered around her. She turned and saw the paper trying to get past her barrier, but being burned in the process. Naruko weaved handsigns and a fire dragon raced towards the enemy kunoichi.

* * *

Sakura punched the rock blocking entrance to the hideout. When the rubble cleared, he saw Naruko wiping the floor with the Akatsuki members. She glanced at him with an unbelievably angry look and finished fighting the blonde, killing him by turning his explosion against him, weaving genjutsu around him, and finally roasting him. Naruko's clothes were tattered and covered in blood. She walked over to Sasuke and grabbed his collar. She slammed him against the wall and her eyes flashed red and black.

"Why are you here?! What about Jun and Haruka!?" Naruko's killer intent spiked so much that Kakashi and Sakura flinched, hard.

"The Hokage said he'd take care of them," Sasuke glared with his sharingan. "What, you wanna fight me?!" Sasuke yelled.

"You never were taught by that Hokage! He's ruthless and takes children to train them until they don't have names or emotions—they're just his puppets!" Naruko made a handsign and disappeared via hiraishin.

Kakashi gave Sasuke a look of pity. Sakura almost laughed. Sasuke glared at them and they immediately shut up.

"What're you looking at?" Sasuke growled, setting fire to the entire puppet with such intensity that it burned in a few moments.

Most of the Akatsuki members had kept away from the fighting unless their rooms were destroyed by Naruko's jutsus. And, if they felt that they wanted to fight Naruko, Konoha's renowned kunoichi.

Sasuke began untie the other jinchuuriki and started with the blue yukata. Last was Gaara. Before he untied Gaara, Sasuke punched Gaara in the face.

"What was that for?" Gaara growled.

"For everything," Sasuke responded and untied him. Gaara sighed and left with the other jinchuuriki.

"Kakashi, Sakura, let's go," Sasuke said and jumped into the treeline. Kakashi and Sakura followed.

* * *

"Hokage-sama!" Naruko barged into his office and knelt. "I'm sorry for coming in so rudely, but where is the new Uchiha heir and Kama's child?"

"The previous Hokage's house," he glared, angry he was disturbed.

"Hai. Thank you, Hokage-sama," she bowed deeply.

"Just so you know, I do not approve of the union of Sasuke and you," Danzo said, a clear threat.

Naruko nodded and bowed again and left via hiraishin. She ran in her house, looking for the two of them. She saw Jun trying to wrap Haruka in Naruko's kimono. She composed herself and put her anger in check.

"Jun, I'm home," Naruko said, picking up Jun and Haruka.

"Where's my mom?" Jun asked. Naruko frowned, debating to tell him or not. Suddenly, she sensed the seal had been completely taken down. She stood and ran with Haruka and Jun in her arms.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Naruko asked.

"Hokage-sama ordered us to take down the seal," an ANBU replied.

"Well, stay away from this house or I'll kill you!" Naruko yelled.

"Hokage-sama has ordered that there be ANBU watching for both intruders and to watch you and Sasuke," the ANBU replied.

"Why?" Naruko asked, trying to control her anger.

**A/N Sorry for the late update~ **


End file.
